ASML vs. Applied Materials: Why One Is the Smarter Buy Right Now

6 hours ago 2

Alex Sirois

Tue, June 30, 2026 astatine 9:06 AM CDT 3 min read

Quick Read

ASML's $45 cardinal backlog and lithography monopoly present pricing powerfulness that Applied Materials, competing successful contested deposition and etch markets, cannot replicate.
CEO Gary Dickerson sold 110,000 Applied Materials shares successful mid-June portion escaped currency travel plunged 80% contempt grounds revenue.
ASML raised its 2026 gross guidance to betwixt €36 cardinal and €40 billion, backed by a €12 cardinal buyback, making it the clearest antiaircraft AI infrastructure bet.
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ASML Holding (NASDAQ: ASML) and Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) some posted beardown results into the AI capex wave. ASML's Q1 FY2026 showed lithography dominance translating into pricing power, portion Applied Materials' Q2 FY2026 revealed a crisp cyclical betterment successful deposition and etch. The contrast: 1 sells a monopoly tool, the different sells into a contested toolset.

An overhead changeable of a brightly lit, pristine mill level with aggregate agelong assembly lines. Several workers successful achromatic laboratory coats and caps are meticulously moving astatine assorted stations on the automated accumulation line, surrounded by beige and acheronian grey manufacturing equipment. Yellow information lines people pathways connected the glossy grey floor.

EUV Cash Machine vs. A Cyclical Snapback

ASML reported $10.34 cardinal successful gross with a 53.0% gross margin, astatine the precocious extremity of guidance. Net System Sales of $7.41 cardinal and Installed Base Management astatine $2.93 cardinal amusement the recurring work flywheel is real. CEO Christophe Fouquet said "Demand for chips is outpacing supply", and ASML raised full-year guidance to €36-€40 billion.

Applied Materials delivered $7.91 cardinal successful revenue, up 11.4% YoY, with non-GAAP EPS of $2.86 beating statement by 7.52%. Semiconductor Systems brought successful $5.97 billion, with DRAM rising to 29% of conception connected HBM demand. Gary Dickerson said the instrumentality concern volition "grow much than 30 percent successful calendar 2026", raised from a anterior 20%+ view. That upgrade matters, but the anterior trough (Q4 FY2025 gross $6.80 cardinal with a $181 cardinal restructuring charge) is inactive a caller memory.

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Monopoly Moat vs. Multi-Product Reach

Lens	ASML	Applied Materials
Core Bet	EUV and High NA lithography	Deposition, etch, GAA, packaging
Backlog Visibility	$45.06 cardinal year-end backlog	Shorter-cycle bookings
Key Vulnerability	China export controls	Foundry fund swings, 27% China premix

ASML is the sole planetary shaper of Advanced Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systems, which means TSMC and Intel cannot physique 2nm oregon 1.4nm AI nodes without it. Applied Materials, by contrast, fights for stock crossed deposition and etch wherever buyers clasp pricing leverage. That said, AMAT's EPIC Center ecosystem with TSMC, SK hynix, Micron, and Samsung gives it a credible fastener connected GAA transitions.

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