ARM and Applied Materials rally against Fed headwinds while ServiceNow and Meta sink, SOXX +1.4%

Semiconductor stocks staged a sharp reversal on Tuesday as ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARM) surged 5.69% and Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) climbed 4.35%, even as the S&P 500 shed 1.21% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.34% on hawkish signals from Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh. The Philadelphia Semiconductor ETF, SOXX, advanced 1.44% to close at $599.73, marking a stark divergence from the prior session's broad chip rout and reversing most of Monday's losses in the hardware segment, while software stocks continued to retreat on higher rate expectations.

This recap analyzes the top 25 publicly-listed AI stocks selected by these criteria: chips and chip equipment ($NVDA, $AVGO, $AMD, $ARM, $INTC, $TSM, $ASML, $AMAT, $LRCX, $SMCI, $DELL); hyperscalers and AI labs ($MSFT, $GOOGL, $AMZN, $META, $ORCL, $CRM, $NOW); pure-play AI and data infrastructure ($PLTR, $SNOW, $MDB, $DDOG); AI-adjacent security and platform ($CRWD, $NET, $PANW); plus $TSLA for autonomy and $BIDU for the China-AI overhang. Macro reference: $SOXX (semis ETF), S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite. End-of-day prices via Yahoo Finance.

Today's biggest movers

ARM Holdings surges 5.7% on Bernstein agentic AI thesis

ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARM) was the session's standout gainer, climbing 5.69% to $418.88 and extending a year-to-date advance of 265%. Analysts at Bernstein published a bullish note arguing that the shift to agentic AI systems, which involve autonomous task execution and complex multi-step orchestration, disproportionately benefits ARM-based central processing units over graphics processing units. The firm sees CPU intensity rising meaningfully as inference workloads and agent coordination steps multiply across enterprise deployments.

The move builds on ARM's record Q4 fiscal 2026 results, in which revenue rose 20% year over year to $1.49 billion, licensing revenue jumped 29% to $819 million, and data center royalties more than doubled as cloud AI demand accelerated. Multiple banks raised price targets: Mizuho to $425 from $360, Barclays to $360 from $250, and Bank of America to $335. ARM has rallied in three of the last four sessions, adding to gains posted when geopolitical conditions improved earlier this month (see our June 15 recap).

Applied Materials jumps 4.4% on four simultaneous analyst upgrades

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) rose 4.35% to $592.92 as four banks raised price targets on the same session. Citi analyst Atif Malik moved his target to $710 from $550, citing bullish demand for NAND memory equipment and a widening gap between available DRAM supply and AI compute requirements. Cantor Fitzgerald raised to $650 from $575, flagging multi-year supply-constrained conditions and bookings visibility stretching into 2028. Barclays lifted to $590 from $500, tying the upside to wafer fab equipment spending that may top $200 billion industry-wide by 2027. UBS moved to $570 from $515 and reaffirmed a Buy.

Singapore's accelerating AI infrastructure buildout was cited across several notes as a demand catalyst. AMAT is up 120% year to date, having fully recovered from a May correction. The coordinated upgrades indicate rising institutional confidence in a sustained multi-year equipment upcycle.

Broadcom adds 4.3% as post-earnings AI revenue momentum holds

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO) gained 4.30% to $392.90, continuing to trade on the tailwind of its fiscal Q2 2026 results. Revenue rose 48% year over year and AI semiconductor revenue soared 143% to $10.8 billion. Chief Executive Hock Tan guided the current quarter's AI revenue to approximately $16 billion, roughly tripling the prior-year figure. The initial market reaction was mixed, as some investors had expected an upward revision to the company's full-year AI revenue target of $100 billion; the stock has since recovered as the underlying trajectory reasserted itself.

According to 48 analysts surveyed by S&P Global, AVGO carries a consensus Strong Buy rating with a mean price target of $522.06, implying roughly 33% upside from Tuesday's close. The tripling AI revenue outlook provides a clear near-term catalyst framework, even as the stock's year-to-date gain of 13% looks modest relative to peers such as ARM and AMAT.

ServiceNow tumbles 5.8% as Fed hike signals compress SaaS multiples

ServiceNow Inc. (NYSE: NOW) fell 5.77% to $95.48, the sharpest decline in our 25-stock universe on Tuesday, extending a two-day slide of more than 11% as investors rotated out of software names following Monday's Federal Reserve meeting. Chairman Kevin Warsh signaled that rate cuts are not imminent and flagged upside inflation risk driven by the energy price shock stemming from the ongoing Iran conflict. Rising rate expectations reduce the present value of future earnings, the core mechanism compressing software multiples.

ServiceNow's underlying business is not the driver. First-quarter subscription revenue rose 22% year over year to $3.77 billion and the company raised its full-year forecast. The overhang is margin guidance: the recent Armis acquisition pulled full-year adjusted gross margin guidance to 81.5%, below analyst consensus. Despite the selloff, 83% of covering analysts hold buy ratings with a mean target near $149. This is a macro de-rating more than a business deterioration, a dynamic also evident across the software names tracked in Monday's recap.

Meta drops 5.4% on legal setback, layoff fallout, and Snap rivalry

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) lost 5.44% to $567.58 on a convergence of legal, operational, and competitive pressures. A California state judge denied Meta's bid for a new trial in a youth mental health addiction case, stripping Section 230 liability protection for platform design choices. A federal multidistrict school district bellwether trial commenced June 15, escalating the legal risk profile. Internal reports published Tuesday described friction among the remaining workforce following a reduction of approximately 8,000 positions, with employees resisting expanded workloads tied to AI model training demands. Snap Inc. intensified competitive pressure on Monday when its chief executive unveiled new augmented reality glasses and publicly criticized Meta's hardware roadmap. The Threads platform crossing 500 million monthly active users was a positive milestone but could not offset the aggregate selling pressure.

Notable but quieter

Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE: DELL), +3.77% to $419.32, continued riding the momentum of its May 29 earnings report, in which AI server revenue jumped 757% year over year to $16.1 billion and the company disclosed a $51.3 billion AI server order backlog. DELL is up 228% year to date and remains one of the clearest hardware infrastructure beneficiaries of the AI buildout.

Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), +3.46% to $121.10, was carried by the day's broad chip hardware tailwinds. Up 207% year to date, Intel has been one of the most dramatic reversals in our coverage universe, from a persistent laggard to a meaningful performer in the AI equipment cycle.

Super Micro Computer Inc. (NASDAQ: SMCI), -4.93% to $27.78, continued absorbing the impact of its $7 billion equity and convertible financing announced June 9 (see our June 10 recap). A Department of Justice investigation into potential export restriction violations on chip shipments to China remains an unresolved overhang.

Salesforce Inc. (NYSE: CRM), -4.14% to $155.02, approached its 52-week low after analysts reset fair value estimates from approximately $317 to $255, citing concerns that the company's AI strategy may disrupt the seat-based pricing model that underpins its revenue base. CRM is down 39% year to date.

What to watch

Micron Technology reports fiscal Q3 earnings on June 24 after market close, providing the first major data point on whether the DRAM and NAND demand recovery signaled today by AMAT's analyst upgrades is materializing in actual orders and pricing. NVIDIA Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA) holds its annual general meeting the same day; any comments on GB200 and GB300 shipment timelines will move the broader chip sector. Federal Reserve officials are scheduled to speak throughout the week, and each appearance carries rate-outlook significance given the shift toward a potential 2026 hike. Energy prices tied to the Iran conflict remain the central macro variable for inflation expectations and software sector valuations.

Not investment advice.