Applied Materials, Inc. vs Salesforce Inc — how do they compare? Applied Materials, Inc. trades at $575.96 (market cap $478.36B), while Salesforce Inc trades at $164.71 (market cap $133.76B). The key difference: Applied Materials, Inc. is far larger — about 3.6× Salesforce Inc's market cap, and Salesforce Inc pays the higher dividend (1.08%). Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| AMAT | CRM | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $478.36B | $133.76B |
Sector | Technology | Technology |
52-Week High | $723.00 | $270.25 |
52-Week Low | $156.25 | $150.12 |
Enterprise Value | $477.39B | $163.81B |
Dividend Yield | 0.35% | 1.08% |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Applied Materials (AMAT) trades at $602.50, up 2.35% recently, with strong technical support near $573 and resistance at $617. The company demonstrates robust fundamentals, including a 29.31% net income margin and consistent earnings beats, while benefiting from AI-driven semiconductor demand highlighted in recent CEO commentary (CNBC, 2026-05-28).
Outlook remains positive given analyst consensus of $644.33 price target and 76.9% buy ratings, though elevated P/E of 56.68 poses valuation risk. Key opportunities include AI infrastructure growth, while risks involve cyclical semiconductor demand and execution challenges in scaling operations.
Salesforce (CRM) trades at $163.32, up 0.5% on the day, but remains in a bearish technical trend with support near $158 and resistance at $165. The company reported strong fundamentals with Q1 2026 EPS of $3.88 beating expectations, revenue growth to $37.90B in 2025, and robust profitability margins. Recent news highlights AI-driven growth potential but also sector-wide software stock volatility.
Outlook is mixed: strong fundamentals and analyst consensus support upside to a $235.20 price target, but technical weakness and competitive AI risks pose challenges. Investment opportunity lies in valuation discount and AI monetization, while risks include market sentiment shifts and execution hurdles in a dynamic tech landscape.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
Applied Materials is the world's largest supplier of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, providing materials engineering solutions to help make nearly every chip in the world. The firm's systems are used in nearly every major process step with the exception of lithography. Key tools include those for chemical and physical vapor deposition, etching, chemical mechanical polishing, wafer- and reticle-inspection, critical dimension measurement, and defect-inspection scanning electron microscopes.
Read more on AMAT →Salesforce Inc provides enterprise cloud computing solutions. The company offers customer relationship management technology that brings companies and customers together. Its Customer 360 platform helps the group to deliver a single source of truth, connecting customer data across systems, apps, and devices to help companies sell, service, market, and conduct commerce. It also offers Service Cloud for customer support, Marketing Cloud for digital marketing campaigns, Commerce Cloud as an e-commerce engine, the Salesforce Platform, which allows enterprises to build applications, and other solutions, such as MuleSoft for data integration.
Read more on CRM →