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Here's How Much a $1000 Investment in Lam Research Made 10 Years Ago Would Be Worth Today

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How much a stock's price changes over time is important for most investors, since price performance can both impact your investment portfolio and help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

Another thing that can drive investing is the fear of missing out, or FOMO. This particularly applies to tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Lam Research (LRCX - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to LRCX for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Lam Research's Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Lam Research's main business drivers.

Established in 1980 and headquartered in Fremont, CA, Lam Research Corporation supplies wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry.

Its products are used by semiconductor manufacturers in front-end and WLP processes, creating memory, microprocessors, and other logic integrated circuits for a broad range of electronic devices.

The MOS process of making integrated circuits involve the deposition of many layers of materials on a semiconductor wafer. Each layer is prepared using a pattern on a photomask, cleaning off the excess material and then exposing to light sources to change the chemical composition of the layer. The final wafer is then planarized, cut into individual die, electrical leads attached and packaged.

Lam's product offerings in deposition and etch address numerous critical steps in the fabrication process with the goal of reducing defect rates, improving yields, lowering costs and reducing the processing time.

Notably, Lam serves three market segments — Memory, Foundry and Logic/Other from where it generated 60%, 26% and 14% of its total revenues in fiscal 2022, respectively.

The revenue distribution by geography in fiscal 2022 was as follows — Korea contributed 23%, Taiwan 17%, Japan 9%, China 31%, U.S accounted for 8%, Europe 4% and South East Asia contributed 8%.

Being a leading producer of specialized equipment, most of the competition comes from other large equipment makers, such as KLA and Applied Materials, Inc.

Bottom Line

Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio requires research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Lam Research ten years ago, you're likely feeling pretty good about your investment today.

According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in August 2013 would be worth $14,389.73, or a 1,338.97% gain, as of August 11, 2023. Investors should keep in mind that this return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 164.21% and gold's return of 40% over the same time frame.

Analysts are anticipating more upside for LRCX.

Lam Research’s fiscal fourth-quarter results were hurt by sluggish memory spending. Weak performance of systems business was a negative. Notably, weak outlook for 2023 wafer fabrication equipment spending remains a major concern. Nevertheless, Lam Research’s proper execution, and expanding and diversifying global footprints are positives. The stock has outperformed its industry on a year-to-date basis. The company remains optimistic about its technological advancements, especially with AI. Also, its strength in 3D DRAM and advanced packaging is a tailwind. Further, rising NAND requirement in accelerating 5G migration, video, and new game consoles is another positive. Solid traction among etch and deposition technologies are likely to aid the company in the near term. Advanced packaging technology inflections are other positives.

The stock has jumped 7.53% over the past four weeks. Additionally, no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 8 higher, for fiscal 2023; the consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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