Sifting through countless of stocks in the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in QUALCOMM Incorporated or Lam Research Corporation because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how QUALCOMM Incorporated and Lam Research Corporation compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About QUALCOMM Incorporated and Lam Research Corporation

QUALCOMM Incorporated engages in the development and commercialization of foundational technologies for the wireless industry worldwide. It operates through three segments: Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT); Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL); and Qualcomm Strategic Initiatives (QSI). The QCT segment develops and supplies integrated circuits and system software with connectivity and computing technologies for use in mobile devices; automotive systems for connectivity, digital cockpit, and ADAS/AD; and IoT, including consumer electronic devices, industrial devices, and edge networking products. The QTL segment grants licenses or provides rights to use portions of its intellectual property portfolio, which include various patent rights useful in the manufacture and sale of wireless products comprising products implementing LTE, and/or OFDMA-based 5G products and derivatives; to use cellular standard-essential patents, including 3G, 4G and 5G for cellular devices. The QSI segment invests in early-stage companies in various industries, including 5G, artificial intelligence, automotive, consumer, enterprise, cloud, IoT, and extended reality, and investments, including non-marketable equity securities and, to a lesser extent, marketable equity securities, and convertible debt instruments. It also provides development, and other services and sells related products to the United States government agencies and their contractors. In addition, the company is also involved in Qualcomm government technologies and data center businesses. QUALCOMM Incorporated was incorporated in 1985 and is headquartered in San Diego, California.

Lam Research Corporation designs, manufactures, markets, refurbishes, and services semiconductor processing equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits in the United States, China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Europe. The company offers ALTUS systems to deposit conformal or selective films for tungsten or molybdenum metallization applications; SABRE electrochemical deposition products for copper interconnect transition that offers copper damascene manufacturing; SPEED gapfill high-density plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) products; Striker single-wafer atomic layer deposition products for dielectric film solutions; and VECTOR plasma-enhanced CVD products. It also provides Flex for dielectric etch applications; Vantex, a dielectric etch system that provides RF technology and repeatable wafer-to-wafer performance enabled by Equipment Intelligence solutions; Kiyo for conductor etch applications; Syndion for through-silicon via etch applications; and Versys metal products for metal etch processes. In addition, the company offers Coronus bevel clean products to enhance die yield; and Da Vinci, DV-Prime, EOS, and SP series products to address various wafer cleaning applications. Further, it provides Reliant deposition, etch, and clean products; and Sense.i platform products, as well as customer service, spares, and upgrades. Lam Research Corporation was incorporated in 1980 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.

Latest Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment and QUALCOMM Incorporated, Lam Research Corporation Stock News

As of April 14, 2026, QUALCOMM Incorporated had a $141.7 billion market capitalization, compared to the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment median of $3.5 million. QUALCOMM Incorporated’s stock is down 22.3% in 2026, up 7.1% in the previous five trading days and down 1.16% in the past year.

Currently, QUALCOMM Incorporated’s price-earnings ratio is 27.1. QUALCOMM Incorporated’s trailing 12-month revenue is $44.9 billion with a 12.0% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 5.0%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $11.101 per share for the current fiscal year. QUALCOMM Incorporated currently has a 2.7% dividend yield.

As of April 14, 2026, Lam Research Corporation had a $340.2 billion market cap, putting it in the 99th percentile of all stocks. Lam Research Corporation’s stock is up 59.1% in 2026, up 21.4% in the previous five trading days and up 310.07% in the past year.

Currently, Lam Research Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 55.9. Lam Research Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $20.6 billion with a 30.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 22.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $5.336 per share for the current fiscal year. Lam Research Corporation currently has a 0.4% dividend yield.

How We Compare QUALCOMM Incorporated and Lam Research Corporation Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at QUALCOMM Incorporated and Lam Research Corporation’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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QUALCOMM Incorporated and Lam Research Corporation Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
QUALCOMM Incorporated	QCOM	C
Lam Research Corporation	LRCX	F

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

QUALCOMM Incorporated has a Value Score of 43, which is Average. Lam Research Corporation has a Value Score of 8, which is Ultra Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither QUALCOMM Incorporated or Lam Research Corporation has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if QUALCOMM Incorporated or Lam Research Corporation is the better investment when it comes to value.

QUALCOMM Incorporated and Lam Research Corporation’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
QUALCOMM Incorporated	QCOM	D
Lam Research Corporation	LRCX	A

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

QUALCOMM Incorporated has a Momentum Score of 23, which is Weak. Lam Research Corporation has a Momentum Score of 94, which is Very Strong.

The Momentum Grade Winner: Lam Research Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, Lam Research Corporation is considered to have stronger momentum compared to QUALCOMM Incorporated. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, Lam Research Corporation could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

QUALCOMM Incorporated and Lam Research Corporation’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
QUALCOMM Incorporated	QCOM	C
Lam Research Corporation	LRCX	B

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

QUALCOMM Incorporated has a Earnings Estimate Score of 44, which is Neutral. Lam Research Corporation has a Earnings Estimate Score of 74, which is Positive.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Lam Research Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Lam Research Corporation has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than QUALCOMM Incorporated. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Lam Research Corporation could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other QUALCOMM Incorporated and Lam Research Corporation Grades

In addition to Momentum, Value and Estimate Revisions, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Quality.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and F-Score.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether QUALCOMM Incorporated and Lam Research Corporation pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, QUALCOMM Incorporated or Lam Research Corporation Stock?

Overall, QUALCOMM Incorporated stock has a Value Score of 43, Momentum Score of 23 and Estimate Revisions Score of 44.

Lam Research Corporation stock has a Value Score of 8, Momentum Score of 94 and Estimate Revisions Score of 74.

Comparing QUALCOMM Incorporated and Lam Research Corporation’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.