Shares of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT
) are up 6% in morning trade after the company reported quarterly revenues and profits that exceeded analyst estimates. The company generated orders of $2.01 billion and net sales of $2.19 billion in its fiscal first quarter of 2012. This exceeded analyst estimates of $1.97 billion in sales.
Adjusted operating income was $344 million, and adjusted net income was $240 million or 18 cents per share. This handily exceeded analyst estimates of 12 cents per share in profits. The company also offered an upbeat forecast for its current quarter.
Sales in the current period will rise between 5 percent and 15 percent from the previous three months, the company said. This works out to revenue of $2.3 billion to $2.52 billion. That easily exceeds the average analyst estimate of $2.09 billion. Excluding certain costs, second-quarter profit will be 20 cents to 28 cents a share, the company said easily exceeding the 16 cents a share consensus forecast.
“Global demand for mobile devices is driving a third consecutive year of strong capital investment by semiconductor customers,” said Mike Splinter, chairman and chief executive officer. “As a result, we see solid order momentum and an improved outlook overall for our second quarter.”
“Applied delivered net sales and earnings above the high end of our expectations,” said George Davis, chief financial officer. “In a quarter in which we closed the Varian acquisition, we also returned substantial capital to our stockholders, paying $104 million in cash dividends and using $200 million to repurchase over 18 million shares of our common stock.”
Customers are stepping up equipment spending to ensure they can meet demand for chips used in smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Samsung Electronics Co. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. are helping fuel the rebound, according to Patrick Ho, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus & Co. “TSMC and even Samsung are boosting orders,” Ho said.
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Post Written By: Ed Liston
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht. |
Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications.