Lam Research (LRCX)
Forward P/E is 24.15x against a peer median of 28.76x, a ratio of 0.84x — below the 0.90x undervalued threshold — with a PEG of 0.78 and a trailing P/E of 37.00x. Latest-quarter revenue grew 54.4% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR), more than double its group's median pace and firmly in exceptional-growth territory, so the discount is not being bought with collapsing growth. Delivered demand check: the Semiconductor equipment & materials group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 24.8% year over year (SEC filings) — demand rising. A high-margin equipment maker growing at 54.4% while trading at a discount to slower peers meets the undervalued test on the brief's evidence.
What would change this label: Moves toward FAIRLY PRICED if revenue growth slows below +20% year over year as the chip-equipment cycle turns, or if the forward P/E rises above ~29x (a ratio above 1.0x) at unchanged estimates. Moves toward OVERVALUED if growth turns negative while the forward P/E stays above ~24x; the UNDERVALUED case strengthens if growth holds above +40% year over year with the ratio at or below 0.84x.
Lam Research makes the machines that make computer chips, and its sales jumped about 54% in a year as chip factories expand for AI. Its shares cost about 24 times next year's expected profit, a bit less than similar equipment companies at about 29 times, despite growing much faster. On these numbers the shares look modestly undervalued — with the warning that chip-equipment booms do cool down.
Both lines start at 100 on 2020-09-01. Over the full window Lam Research returned +607.22% and the S&P 500 +118.28% (price returns; dividends not reinvested). Worst peak-to-trough fall for Lam Research: -56.9% (2022-01-14 to 2022-10-14). Source: Nasdaq official daily history.
What the label rests on
Forward P/E is 24.15x against a peer median of 28.76x, a ratio of 0.84x — below the 0.90x undervalued threshold — with a PEG of 0.78 and a trailing P/E of 37.00x. Latest-quarter revenue grew 54.4% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR), more than double its group's median pace and firmly in exceptional-growth territory, so the discount is not being bought with collapsing growth. Delivered demand check: the Semiconductor equipment & materials group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 24.8% year over year (SEC filings) — demand rising. A high-margin equipment maker growing at 54.4% while trading at a discount to slower peers meets the undervalued test on the brief's evidence. The company’s forward P/E is 24.1× against a peer median of 28.8×. Its own history: UNVERIFIED — no sourced range available. Sector demand read: Delivered demand check: the Semiconductor equipment & materials group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 24.8% year over year (SEC filings) — demand rising. Latest-quarter sales growth was +54.4% versus a year earlier (SEC filings).
| Company | Price (Oct 28, 2026) | Forward P/E | Trailing P/E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lam Research (LRCX) | $248.30 | 24.1× | 37.0× |
| AMAT | $405.78 | 23.0× | 35.0× |
| KLAC | $157.21 | 28.8× | 43.0× |
| TER | $323.68 | 31.2× | 37.1× |
| Q | $118.75 | — | — |
| Peer median | 28.8× |
Multiples: stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026. Peer set chosen by sector; the median is the middle value of the set. The label and its numbers were recorded in the programme’s label registry on Oct 28, 2026 and will be scored at 6 and 12 months.
Sales, profit and cash
Gross margin = gross profit divided by sales, from SEC filings.
Free cash flow = cash from operations minus spending on plant and equipment, both from the company’s SEC cash-flow statement. Gaps are quarters where that spending line is not separately tagged in the filings — shown as gaps, never estimated.
| Quarter | Sales | Gross margin | Net income | EPS (GAAP, diluted) | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q/E Sep 2026 2026-09-27 | $8.2B | 52.3% | $2.8B | 2.19 | $3.2B |
| Q/E Jun 2026 2026-06-28 | $6.7B | 51.8% | $2.3B | — | $1.3B |
| Q/E Mar 2026 2026-03-29 | $5.8B | 49.8% | $1.8B | 1.45 | $810M |
| Q/E Dec 2025 2025-12-28 | $5.3B | 49.6% | $1.6B | 1.26 | $1.2B |
| Q/E Sep 2025 2025-09-28 | $5.3B | 50.4% | $1.6B | 1.24 | $1.6B |
| Q/E Jun 2025 2025-06-29 | $5.2B | 50.1% | $1.7B | — | $2.4B |
| Q/E Mar 2025 2025-03-30 | $4.7B | 49.0% | $1.3B | 1.03 | $1.0B |
| Q/E Dec 2024 2024-12-29 | $4.4B | 47.4% | $1.2B | 0.92 | $554M |
| Q/E Sep 2024 2024-09-29 | $4.2B | 48.0% | $1.1B | 0.86 | $1.5B |
| Q/E Jun 2024 2024-06-30 | $3.9B | 47.5% | $1.0B | — | $762M |
| Q/E Mar 2024 2024-03-31 | $3.8B | 47.5% | $966M | 7.34 | $1.3B |
| Q/E Dec 2023 2023-12-24 | $3.8B | 46.8% | $954M | 7.22 | $1.3B |
The last twelve reported quarters. Full 25-quarter history sits in the data pack behind this page. A dash means the figure is not tagged as a standalone quarter in the company’s SEC facts (the usual case is the fourth quarter, which many companies only report inside the full-year filing) — it is missing, not zero.
Earnings: getting better or worse?
Each box is one quarter’s earnings per share (EPS). Green means EPS was higher than the same quarter a year earlier; red means lower; a dash means the figure is not tagged in the filings.
Basis: GAAP diluted EPS from SEC company facts, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Key facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Company (legal name in filings) | LAM RESEARCH CORP |
| Chief executive | Tim Archer (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lam_Research) |
| Sector | Technology — Semiconductor Materials & Equipment — sells wafer-processing equipment used to manufacture chips |
| Share price (Oct 28, 2026) | $248.30 |
| Market value (market cap) | $300.9B — share price times shares outstanding of 1,249,171,000 (SEC filings; SEC EDGAR dei EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding (latest)) |
| Sales, last twelve months | $26.1B |
| Net income, last twelve months | $8.4B |
| Free cash flow, last twelve months | $6.5B |
| Latest reported quarter | Q/E Sep 2026 (of 25 quarters in the data pack) |
| Six-year price return vs S&P 500 | +607.22% vs +118.28% |
| Worst peak-to-trough fall | -56.9% (2022-01-14 to 2022-10-14) |
What we could not verify
- TTM GAAP diluted EPS could not be summed from company facts because at least one of the last four quarters (typically Q4) has no standalone tagged EPS; trailing P/E is therefore taken from the labelled secondary source in valuation_label.md.
- Own-history P/E range not yet compiled for this company in the Phase 1 batch run; the label rests on peer-median, growth and PEG evidence.
- Valuation multiples were captured on Oct 28 at $248.3 while the price series closes Oct 27 at $240.85 — the shares moved between the two; multiples correspond to the captured price.
- The brief's peer set for this ticker contains four peers rather than five, and one of them (Q) has no forward P/E in the brief, so the peer median of 28.76x rests on fewer names than the standard set.
- Guidance record (each quarter scored against the guidance the company gave the quarter before) is not yet compiled for this company — it is a Phase 2 layer. The earnings strip below therefore uses reported EPS versus a year earlier, which is fully sourced from filings.
The IT factor — the most exciting thing the market is overlooking — is not assessed on an X-Ray page. It belongs to the Deep Dive (Phase 2), where it gets the evidence standard it needs. Leadership-era scoring (the six years split by chief executive) is likewise a Phase 2 layer; this page names the current chief executive only, from a sourced profile.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR submissions — Filing index; company legal name.
https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0000707549.json - SEC EDGAR company facts — Quarterly financial spine: revenue, gross profit, net income, GAAP diluted EPS, operating cash flow, PP&E capex, buybacks, dividends, diluted shares.
https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000707549.json - Nasdaq official daily history — Daily closes for the company; SPY (assetclass=etf) saved as raw/nasdaq_spy_raw.json over identical dates.
https://api.nasdaq.com/api/quote/LRCX/historical?assetclass=stocks - Valuation multiples and peer figures — stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026; see valuation_label.md in the data pack.
Conventions: earliest-filed value per period, as first reported; cash-flow years-to-date differenced quarter by quarter; EPS never differenced; free cash flow = operating cash flow minus plant-and-equipment spending. This page is a dated snapshot — updates are new versions, never silent edits.