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LRCX vs NVDA
Which Stock Would AI Choose? Lam Research (LRCX) vs. Nvidia (NVDA) Stock Comparison
Key Takeaways
- Different roles in the AI supply chain: NVDA designs the GPUs (graphics processing units) powering AI computing, while LRCX builds the wafer-fabrication equipment (WFE) used to manufacture chips.
- Diverging 2026 momentum: Lam Research has surged roughly 84% year to date, whereas Nvidia has gained about 19% after an earlier multi-year run.
- Growth versus valuation: Nvidia trades at a comparatively modest forward P/E (price-to-earnings) multiple, while Lam Research carries a richer multiple relative to the semiconductor equipment group.
- Capital returns: Nvidia announced a historic $150 billion buyback expansion, while Lam Research raised its dividend and returned more than $5 billion to shareholders in fiscal 2026.
- Risk profiles differ: Nvidia faces customer-concentration and export-control exposure, while Lam Research is more sensitive to memory-chip and fab-spending cycles.
Introduction
Investors tracking the artificial intelligence boom often find themselves weighing two very different links in the semiconductor value chain. NVDA, or Nvidia, is the designer of the accelerated-computing chips at the heart of AI infrastructure, while LRCX, or Lam Research, supplies the etch and deposition tools that fabricate the chips feeding that infrastructure. This stock comparison is relevant to traders seeking exposure to AI-driven growth and to longer-term investors evaluating relative performance and market positioning. Both companies have benefited from surging semiconductor demand, yet their recent price behavior, valuations, and risk profiles have diverged in ways worth understanding.
LRCX Overview and Recent Performance
Lam Research is a leading supplier of wafer-fabrication equipment, specializing in deposition and etch tools used to make advanced memory and logic chips. Its business is closely tied to memory manufacturers and foundries expanding capacity for AI workloads, high-bandwidth memory (HBM), and advanced packaging.
Recent market activity has favored the stock. Lam Research shares have climbed roughly 84% in 2026, reflecting accelerating demand and upbeat financial results. In its most recent fiscal quarter, the company reported revenue of about $6.72 billion, up roughly 30% year over year, with non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) rising about 37%. Management has also raised its full-year outlook for wafer-fab equipment spending toward the low $150 billion range. Beyond growth, Lam Research has strengthened shareholder returns, raising its quarterly dividend by 27% and returning more than $5 billion through buybacks and dividends during fiscal 2026. Despite the rally, the stock pulled back from a 52-week high reached in late June, and its forward P/E ratio remains elevated relative to the broader semiconductor equipment industry.
NVDA Overview and Recent Performance
Nvidia is the world's most valuable semiconductor company and the dominant supplier of GPUs used to train and run artificial intelligence models. Its data-center segment has been the primary engine of growth, supported by a widening software ecosystem that makes switching platforms difficult for customers.
In contrast to Lam Research, Nvidia's share price has cooled after an extraordinary multi-year advance. The stock is up roughly 19% in 2026, a notable deceleration from its earlier trajectory and only modestly ahead of the broader market. The company's underlying results remain strong: full-fiscal-year 2026 revenue grew about 65% to roughly $215.9 billion, and its most recent quarterly revenue rose approximately 73% year over year. However, a revenue forecast that fell short of the most bullish expectations and investor rotation into other semiconductor names have weighed on sentiment. Nvidia responded by expanding its share-repurchase authorization by $150 billion, bringing its total to about $235 billion, the largest in U.S. corporate history. Its forward P/E multiple has compressed toward levels not seen in years.
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Head-to-Head Comparison
The two companies occupy complementary but distinct positions. Nvidia is a design-and-software powerhouse whose growth is driven directly by AI compute demand from hyperscalers, enterprises, and sovereign buyers. Lam Research is a capital-equipment supplier whose fortunes depend on whether chipmakers commit to new fabrication capacity—an indirect but powerful lever on the same AI theme.
On momentum, Lam Research has been the stronger performer in 2026, aided by a memory upcycle and rising fab-spending expectations. Nvidia, by contrast, has delivered faster revenue growth but faced valuation compression as investors reassess how much to pay for that expansion. Their risk profiles also differ: Nvidia carries meaningful customer concentration and remains exposed to U.S. export controls affecting China, while Lam Research is more exposed to the cyclicality of memory spending and trade tensions around semiconductor tools.
Sector exposure provides another contrast. Nvidia is a direct AI-infrastructure play; Lam Research is a more diversified "picks and shovels" bet across memory, foundry, and packaging. For growth-oriented investors, Nvidia offers scale and software defensibility; for those seeking cyclical leverage to the memory and equipment cycle, Lam Research may present a different risk-reward profile.
Tickeron AI Verdict
Based on observable factors such as trend consistency, relative momentum, and catalyst visibility, Tickeron's AI would likely lean toward Lam Research in the current environment. The stock has demonstrated stronger recent price momentum and benefits from a broadening memory-equipment upcycle, with upward estimate revisions and improving fundamentals supporting the trend. Nvidia's fundamentals remain formidable, but its compressed valuation and decelerating share-price momentum suggest a less decisive trend at present. As always, this assessment is probabilistic and grounded in current data rather than a definitive prediction—market conditions can shift, and relative positioning should be monitored continuously.
Disclaimer
The information on this webpage is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice, a recommendation to purchase or sell any security, or an offer or solicitation related to investments. It does not consider your personal financial situation, goals, or risk profile, and all investing carries inherent risks, including the possibility of losing your entire investment. For more details, please review our full disclaimer.
To compare these two companies we present long-term analysis, their fundamental ratings and make comparative short-term technical analysis which are presented below. The conclusion is LRCX is a Buy and NVDA is a StrongBuy.
LRCX | NVDA | ||
|---|---|---|---|
OUTLOOK RATING 1..100 | 36 | 38 | |
VALUATION overvalued / fair valued / undervalued 1..100 | 85 Overvalued | 75 Overvalued | |
PROFIT vs RISK RATING 1..100 | 26 | 4 | |
SMR RATING 1..100 | 18 | 13 | |
PRICE GROWTH RATING 1..100 | 36 | 36 | |
P/E GROWTH RATING 1..100 | 9 | 88 | |
SEASONALITY SCORE 1..100 | n/a | 90 |
Tickeron ratings are formulated such that a rating of 1 designates the most successful stocks in a given industry, while a rating of 100 points to the least successful stocks for that industry.
NVDA's Valuation (75) in the Semiconductors industry is in the same range as LRCX (85) in the Electronic Production Equipment industry. This means that NVDA’s stock grew similarly to LRCX’s over the last 12 months.
NVDA's Profit vs Risk Rating (4) in the Semiconductors industry is in the same range as LRCX (26) in the Electronic Production Equipment industry. This means that NVDA’s stock grew similarly to LRCX’s over the last 12 months.
NVDA's SMR Rating (13) in the Semiconductors industry is in the same range as LRCX (18) in the Electronic Production Equipment industry. This means that NVDA’s stock grew similarly to LRCX’s over the last 12 months.
NVDA's Price Growth Rating (36) in the Semiconductors industry is in the same range as LRCX (36) in the Electronic Production Equipment industry. This means that NVDA’s stock grew similarly to LRCX’s over the last 12 months.
LRCX's P/E Growth Rating (9) in the Electronic Production Equipment industry is significantly better than the same rating for NVDA (88) in the Semiconductors industry. This means that LRCX’s stock grew significantly faster than NVDA’s over the last 12 months.
| LRCX | NVDA | |
|---|---|---|
| RSI ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 67% | N/A |
| Stochastic ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 64% | 2 days ago 68% |
| Momentum ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 74% | 2 days ago 84% |
| MACD ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 76% | 2 days ago 81% |
| TrendWeek ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 82% | 2 days ago 82% |
| TrendMonth ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 82% | 2 days ago 80% |
| Advances ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 84% | 2 days ago 83% |
| Declines ODDS (%) | 9 days ago 64% | 9 days ago 68% |
| BollingerBands ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 85% | N/A |
| Aroon ODDS (%) | 2 days ago 74% | 2 days ago 79% |
Long-Term Analysis
It is best to consider a long-term outlook for a ticker by using Fundamental Analysis (FA) ratings. The rating of 1 to 100, where 1 is best and 100 is worst, is divided into thirds. The first third (a green rating of 1-33) indicates that the ticker is undervalued; the second third (a grey number between 34 and 66) means that the ticker is valued fairly; and the last third (red number of 67 to 100) reflects that the ticker is overvalued. We use an FA Score to show how many ratings show the ticker to be undervalued (green) or overvalued (red).
LRCX’s FA Score shows that 3 FA rating(s) are green while NVDA’s FA Score has 2 green FA rating(s).
- LRCX’s FA Score: 3 green, 2 red.
- NVDA’s FA Score: 2 green, 3 red.
Short-Term Analysis
It is best to consider a short-term outlook for a ticker by using Technical Analysis (TA) indicators. We use Odds of Success as the percentage of outcomes which confirm successful trade signals in the past.
If the Odds of Success (the likelihood of the continuation of a trend) for each indicator are greater than 50%, then the generated signal is confirmed. A green percentage from 90% to 51% indicates that the ticker is in a bullish trend. A red percentage from 90% - 51% indicates that the ticker is in a bearish trend. All grey percentages are below 50% and are considered not to confirm the trend signal.
LRCX’s TA Score shows that 6 TA indicator(s) are bullish while NVDA’s TA Score has 5 bullish TA indicator(s).
- LRCX’s TA Score: 6 bullish, 4 bearish.
- NVDA’s TA Score: 5 bullish, 2 bearish.
Price Growth
LRCX (@Electronic Production Equipment) experienced а +10.72% price change this week, while NVDA (@Semiconductors) price change was +2.80% for the same time period.
The average weekly price growth across all stocks in the @Electronic Production Equipment industry was +7.30%. For the same industry, the average monthly price growth was +18.83%, and the average quarterly price growth was +32.78%.
The average weekly price growth across all stocks in the @Semiconductors industry was +3.30%. For the same industry, the average monthly price growth was +15.30%, and the average quarterly price growth was +62.49%.
Reported Earning Dates
LRCX is expected to report earnings on Oct 21, 2026.
NVDA is expected to report earnings on Nov 25, 2026.
Industries' Descriptions
@Electronic Production Equipment (+7.30% weekly)The electronic production equipment industry makes equipment used to produce semiconductors. Such equipment includes wafer fabrication, plasma etching and photo-resist processing equipment. The industry also makes chemical vapor deposition processing systems and photomasks, which are high-purity quartz plates that contain patterns to define integrated circuits layouts. Applied Materials, Inc., Lam Research Corporation, and KLA-Tencor Corporation are examples of electronic production equipment manufacturing companies.
@Semiconductors (+3.30% weekly)The semiconductor industry manufacturers all chip-related products, including research and development. These chips are used in innumerable electronic devices, including computers, cell phones, smartphones, and GPSs. Intel Corporation, NVIDIA Corp., and Broadcomm are some of the prominent players in this industry. Semiconductor companies usually tend to do well during periods of healthy economic growth, thereby inducing further research and development in the industry – which in turn augurs well for productivity and growth in the economy. In the near future, demand for semiconductor products (and possibly innovation within the segment) should only expand further, with the proliferation of 5G, autonomous vehicles, IoT, and various AI-driven electronics set to herald a new, advanced chapter in the technology-driven world as we know it. With burgeoning prospects comes great competition. In 2015, SIA estimated that U.S. semiconductor industry ranks as the second most competitive U.S. industry out of 2882 U.S. industries designated manufacturers by the U.S. Census Bureau.
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NVDA and
Correlation & Price change
A.I.dvisor indicates that over the last year, NVDA has been closely correlated with LRCX. These tickers have moved in lockstep 70% of the time. This A.I.-generated data suggests there is a high statistical probability that if NVDA jumps, then LRCX could also see price increases.
| Ticker / NAME | Correlation To NVDA | 1D Price Change % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NVDA | 100% | +1.09% | ||
| LRCX - NVDA | 70% Closely correlated | +3.53% | ||
| KLAC - NVDA | 69% Closely correlated | +2.77% | ||
| AMAT - NVDA | 66% Closely correlated | +3.50% | ||
| AMKR - NVDA | 63% Loosely correlated | +0.99% | ||
| CAMT - NVDA | 63% Loosely correlated | -0.94% | ||
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