AMAT
Applied Materials, Inc.
AMAT has the edge over HPE overall, supported by stronger valuation.
HPE
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company
HPE has lower modeled downside risk, despite its lower overall score.
AMAT Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong |
AMAT's revenue, profitability, cash flow and balance sheet are all currently strong.
HPE Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Strong | |
| Healthy | |
| Healthy | |
| Stable |
HPE's revenue, profitability and cash flow are currently healthy, and its balance sheet is stable.
AMAT PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 16x | $205 | -46% |
| Forward | 20x | $381 | — |
| Fair | 21x | $263 | -31% |
| Expensive | 29x | $365 | -4.1% |
| Current | 30x | $381 | — |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
AMAT has the edge over HPE in the historical PE scenario, which offers more potential upside but is not a forecast.
HPE PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 6.4x | $12.41 | -75% |
| Forward | 11x | $50.16 | — |
| Fair | 16x | $30.89 | -38% |
| Expensive | 26x | $49.82 | -0.7% |
| Current | 26x | $50.16 | — |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
HPE's PE is in its expensive range at 26x. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 11x next year's earnings, in its cheap range.
AMAT Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Moderate | |
| Moderate |
Analysts expect strong earnings and revenue growth for AMAT, with profitability improving.
HPE Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Growth | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Moderate | |
| Low |
Analysts expect earnings and revenue growth for HPE, with profitability improving. However, they disagree widely on these estimates.
AMAT Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $18.83 | +49% |
| Q4 2026 | $12.62 | +46% |
AMAT's earnings per share have climbed steadily: $12.62 over the past year, up 46% from the year before, and higher year over year every quarter since late 2026. Its recent earnings include one-off gains.
HPE Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $4.68 | +141% |
| Q3 2026 | $1.94 | +128% |
| Q2 2026 | $1.09 | +6.9% |
| Q1 2026 | -$0.17 | -108% |
| Q4 2025 | -$0.04 | -102% |
| Q3 2025 | $0.85 | -39% |
| Q2 2025 | $1.02 | -26% |
| Q1 2025 | $2.08 | +43% |
| Q4 2024 | $1.93 | +25% |
HPE has the edge over AMAT in the latest year-over-year earnings comparison.
AMAT Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 2026 | $10.4B | +53% |
| Q3 2026 | $9.1B | +25% |
| Q2 2026 | $7.9B | +11% |
| Q1 2026 | $7B | -2.1% |
AMAT's revenue is growing: $10.4B last quarter, up 53% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 34% | +3.2 points |
| Q2 2026 | 32% | +1.3 points |
| Q1 2026 | 26% | -4.2 points |
| Q4 2025 | 25% | N/A |
| Q3 2025 | 31% | N/A |
| Q2 2025 | 31% | N/A |
| Q1 2025 | 30% | N/A |
AMAT has the edge over HPE on profitability, with a higher operating margin.
HPE Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $12.2B | +34% |
| Q2 2026 | $10.7B | +40% |
| Q1 2026 | $9.3B | +18% |
| Q4 2025 | $9.7B | +14% |
| Q3 2025 | $9.1B | +18% |
| Q2 2025 | $7.6B | +5.9% |
| Q1 2025 | $7.9B | +16% |
| Q4 2024 | $8.5B | +15% |
HPE has the edge over AMAT on sales, with more consistent year-over-year improvement.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 11% | +8.7 points |
| Q2 2026 | 7% | +22 points |
| Q1 2026 | 5% | -0.5 points |
| Q4 2025 | -0.1% | -8.3 points |
| Q3 2025 | 2.7% | -4.4 points |
| Q2 2025 | -15% | -20 points |
| Q1 2025 | 5.5% | -2.3 points |
| Q4 2024 | 8.2% | +1.3 points |
HPE's operating margin was 11% last quarter, up 8.7 points from the same quarter a year ago, near the top of its range since 2019.
AMAT Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $2.3B | +14% |
| Q2 2026 | $210M | -80% |
| Q1 2026 | $1B | +91% |
HPE has the edge over AMAT in the latest year-over-year cash flow comparison.
HPE Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $896M | +23% |
| Q2 2026 | $827M | +$1.8B |
| Q1 2026 | $609M | +$1.5B |
| Q4 2025 | $1.8B | +28% |
| Q3 2025 | $729M | +19% |
| Q2 2025 | -$1B | -289% |
| Q1 2025 | -$918M | -$326M |
| Q4 2024 | $1.4B | -34% |
HPE has the edge over AMAT in the latest year-over-year cash flow comparison.
AMAT Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | +0.1% | +1M shares |
| 1 year | -0.2% | -2M shares |
AMAT has the edge over HPE on shareholder dilution, with a more favorable share count trend.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $440M |
| Q2 2026 | $400M |
| Q1 2026 | $337M |
| Q4 2025 | $851M |
| Q3 2025 | $1.1B |
| Q2 2025 | $1.7B |
| Q1 2025 | $1.3B |
AMAT spent $2B buying back its own shares over the past year.
HPE Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | +1.2% | +17M shares |
| 1 year | +2% | +28M shares |
| 3 years | +10% | +133M shares |
| 5 years | +8.3% | +111M shares |
| Available history | +6.1% | +83M shares |
HPE has 1.4B diluted shares, up 2% from a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $135M |
| Q2 2026 | $154M |
| Q1 2026 | $158M |
| Q4 2025 | $100M |
| Q3 2025 | — |
| Q2 2025 | $50M |
| Q1 2025 | $52M |
| Q4 2024 | $50M |
HPE spent $547M buying back its own shares over the past year, about four times what it spent the year before.
AMAT Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 0.1x | Very low |
| Q2 2026 | 0.2x | Very low |
| Q1 2026 | -0.1x | Net Cash |
| Q4 2025 | -0.1x | Net Cash |
| Q3 2025 | 0.2x | Very low |
| Q2 2025 | 0.1x | Very low |
| Q1 2025 | 0.1x | Very low |
AMAT has the edge over HPE on leverage, with a lower net debt burden relative to earnings.
HPE Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 2.3x | Moderate |
| Q2 2026 | 3.4x | Elevated |
| Q1 2026 | 6.4x | High |
| Q4 2025 | 7.2x | High |
| Q3 2025 | 6.9x | High |
| Q2 2025 | 2.0x | Healthy |
| Q1 2025 | 1.0x | Very low |
| Q4 2024 | 0.7x | Very low |
HPE's net debt is about 2.3 years of its operating earnings (EBITDA), down from 6.9 years a year ago.
AMAT Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 42.8 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 13.8 | Oversold |
AMAT's weekly RSI is 43 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 14 (oversold).
HPE Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 50.0 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 22.0 | Neutral |
HPE's weekly RSI is 50 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 22 (neutral).
AMAT PE vs Technology Sector
| Metric | AMAT | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 30x | 28x | 8.4% above |
| PE % | 85 | 35 | 50 pts above |
AMAT is trading at 30x earnings, in line with the Technology sector's median of 28x, though its earnings don't support one.
HPE PE vs Technology Sector
| Metric | HPE | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 26x | 28x | 7.2% below |
| PE % | 83 | 35 | 48 pts above |
HPE has the edge over AMAT on valuation relative to its sector.
AMAT Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $427.8 | 11% below |
| 20 week MA | $477.9 | 20% below |
| 50 week MA | $418.0 | 8.9% below |
| 100 week MA | $298.5 | 28% above |
| 200 week MA | $232.1 | 64% above |
AMAT has pulled back, but its long-term trend is still up: it's below its 8-, 20- and 50-week averages, but 64% above its 200-week average.
HPE Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $58.5 | 14% below |
| 20 week MA | $54.6 | 8.1% below |
| 50 week MA | $38.8 | 29% above |
| 100 week MA | $29.6 | 70% above |
| 200 week MA | $23.5 | 114% above |
HPE has the edge over AMAT on trend strength, trading above more of its moving averages.
AMAT Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $61.2 | $85.3 | +39% |
| 2021 | $85.3 | $155.5 | +82% |
| 2022 | $155.5 | $97.2 | -37% |
| 2023 | $97.2 | $162.1 | +67% |
| 2024 | $162.1 | $166.8 | +2.9% |
| 2025 | $166.8 | $261.9 | +57% |
| 2026 YTD | $261.9 | $381.0 | +45% |
AMAT has finished higher in five of the last six years, three of them by more than 50%. It's up 45% so far in 2026.
HPE Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $15.9 | $11.8 | -26% |
| 2021 | $11.8 | $15.8 | +34% |
| 2022 | $15.8 | $15.8 | -0.1% |
| 2023 | $15.8 | $17.0 | +7.8% |
| 2024 | $17.0 | $21.7 | +28% |
| 2025 | $21.7 | $24.5 | +13% |
| 2026 YTD | $24.5 | $50.2 | +105% |
HPE has the edge over AMAT on returns for 2026, with the stronger performance.