Applied Materials
reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal second quarter, but the shares fell in late trading after management said the memory semiconductor market remains difficult.
The chip equipment maker reported adjusted earnings of $2.00 a share for the April quarter, compared with the consensus estimate of $1.84 among Wall Street analysts tracked by FactSet. Revenue came in at $6.63 billion for the quarter, above analysts’ expectations of $6.39 billion.
Applied Materials
(ticker: AMAT) also forecast a range of potential revenue for the current quarter with a midpoint of $6.15 billion, compared with the consensus view of $6.06 billion.
“Our longer-term outlook is very positive as semiconductors become a larger and more strategically important market globally and major technology inflections are enabled by materials engineering,” CEO Gary Dickerson said in a news release.
On a conference call to discuss the results, management said the major consumer electronic markets, including PCs and smartphones, remain weak. They also said pricing and factory utilization for memory chips declined during the quarter, while inventories increased.
Applied Materials shares fell 1.5% to $128.01 following the release in post-market trading.
The chip equipment company’s key customers include Intel (INTC) and
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
(TSM).
Over the past 12 months, Applied Materials stock has risen 17%, compared with the 11% rally for the
iShares Semiconductor
(SOXX) exchange-traded fund, which tracks the performance of the ICE Semiconductor index.
Write to Tae Kim at tae.kim@barrons.com
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