Sometimes the most important companies in the AI revolution aren't the ones everyone's talking about. While the spotlight stays fixed on chipmakers and cloud platforms, Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) has been quietly racking up impressive numbers as the picks-and-shovels supplier to the semiconductor industry.
The California-based company is seeing its growth metrics surge in MarketDash's Edge Stock Rankings, driven by the unrelenting wave of AI capital expenditure spending that shows zero signs of slowing down.
Understanding the Growth Score Jump
Applied Materials' Growth score in the Edge Rankings has rocketed from 68.29 to 98.2 within just one week. That's not a typo, and it's not random volatility.
The Growth score is calculated based on a company's historical growth profile, weighing both the pace of earnings and revenue expansion. It gives equal importance to short-term and long-term trends before ranking each stock as a percentile against the entire market. When you see a spike like this, it's telling you something meaningful: strong recent quarterly results have recalibrated the company's compounded annual growth rate in a significant way.
The timing here matters. This surge comes just weeks after Applied Materials delivered a better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter performance, posting $6.8 billion in revenue against consensus estimates of $6.67 billion.
Sure, the year-over-year growth was modest at 3%, but what really caught investors' attention was the guidance for the current quarter. The company expects revenues of $6.85 billion, comfortably ahead of the $6.76 billion estimate. Even more impressive, adjusted earnings are projected in the range of $1.98 to $2.38 per share, significantly topping the $2.13 consensus.
The Hidden Player in AI Infrastructure
Here's why Applied Materials matters more than most people realize: the company supplies essential equipment, software, and services to the semiconductor industry. It's a critical yet largely unknown cog in the global AI value chain.
Think about it this way: before Intel Corp. (INTC), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSM), or Micron Technology Inc. (MU) can manufacture the chips powering AI data centers, someone needs to provide them with the manufacturing equipment. That's where Applied Materials comes in.
The company counts many of the world's largest chipmakers and foundries among its customer base. When AI infrastructure spending accelerates, these customers need more manufacturing capacity. More capacity means more equipment orders. More equipment orders flow straight to Applied Materials' bottom line.
The stock currently scores high on Momentum, Growth, and Quality in the Edge Stock Rankings, with favorable price trends across short, medium, and long-term timeframes. For investors looking beyond the obvious AI plays, this is the kind of company that benefits from the buildout without the same level of market saturation and hype.
As AI capital expenditures continue their upward march, the semiconductor equipment suppliers occupying the center of this value chain are finally getting the market recognition they deserve. Applied Materials' surging growth metrics suggest the market is catching on to what was always there: a crucial enabler of the AI revolution, not just a participant.