On August 18, Applied Materials fell 4.28% in regular trading, trading near $507.85/share, with turnover of $4.09 billion. The semiconductor equipment sector came under broad-based selling pressure, erasing the prior session's gains.

The decline was driven by a sector-wide pullback across semiconductor equipment names, with Teradyne down 6.21%, Lam Research down 5.55%, AXT Inc down 4.39%, ASML down 3.77%, and KLA down 3.43%. The company had reported Q3 fiscal results on August 13 that beat expectations across the board — revenue of $9.12 billion grew 25% year over year, with Q4 revenue guidance midpoint of $10.25 billion far exceeding the $9.55 billion consensus. Multiple investment banks subsequently raised price targets, including Argus to $600, Berenberg to $675, and Bernstein to $700. However, with shares having already doubled year-to-date, short-term profit-taking pressure persisted following the post-earnings rally attempt, and the broader sector weakness amplified the pullback.

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