10 Best Automation Stocks to Buy Now

7) Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX)

Average Upside Potential: 29.97%

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) manufactures, markets, and services semiconductor processing equipment that is used in making integrated circuits. The company’s technology provides dynamic opportunities for businesses to push boundaries of robotics and nanotechnology.

To meet the need for cutting-edge solutions, Lam Research India joined hands with Nikit Engineers, which is a renowned provider of welding automation and robotic solutions in India. The focus of this collaboration is to implement Nikit Engineer’s Orbital Welder, which is a state-of-the-art robotic welding system, to enhance the efficiency of the connector tube welding process.

While the company’s stock was recently hammered, Wall Street analysts believe that this pullback should be considered a buying opportunity as the stock is ready to take off. Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) released 4Q 2024 revenue of $3.87 billion, beating the analysts’ expectations of $3.82 billion. While its revenues went up by 21% YoY, the company’s non-GAAP earnings per share came in at $8.14. Analysts were expecting $7.58 per share.

The company is expected to benefit from an increase in memory consumption due to the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (Al). Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) acknowledged seeing an additional demand due to an improvement in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) capacity investments. As per the current trend, data centers are increasingly using HBM to address Al workloads. This is because it can assess and execute enormous amounts of data. All this happens by maintaining low power consumption.

The management of Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) reaffirmed a strong mid-$90 billion Wafer Fab Equipment (WFE) market outlook for CY24. This, together with management’s confidence in WFE market growth for 2025, mainly in NAND sector, paints a rosy picture for the company’s future performance.

Barclays upped its price target on shares of Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) from $865.00 to $900.00. They gave an “Equal weight” rating on 5th June. Insider Monkey’s 1Q 2024 data of 920 hedge funds suggested that 78 hedge funds held positions in Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX).