Applied Materials Inc. said its fiscal first-quarter earnings
surged on strong double-digit sales growth.
Chief Executive Gary Dickerson said the company's performance in
the latest quarter "reflects healthy investment by our
semiconductor and display customers and major technology trends
that are playing to our strengths in precision materials
engineering."
The company in September agreed to acquire Tokyo Electron Ltd.
in a deal that would create the world's largest provider of chip
manufacturing equipment. The companies, which supply costly
machines that help turn silicon wafers into computer chips, have
described their all-stock deal as a merger of equals. But the deal
effectively represents a purchase by Applied of Tokyo Electron, one
of the biggest-ever foreign takeovers of Japanese company.
The performance of Applied Materials and its peers has long
reflected boom-and-bust cycles in the markets for semiconductors
and equipment used to make them. The sector has come under
increasing pressure to develop even more sophisticated equipment
while giant chip makers have been demanding ever-cheaper tools.
For the period ended Jan. 26, Applied Materials reported a
profit of $253 million, or 21 cents a share, up sharply from $34
million, or three cents a share a year earlier. Excluding
acquisition-related expenses and other items, adjusted earnings
rose to 23 cents from six cents. Revenue increased 39% to $2.19
billion.
The company expected per-share earnings of 20 cents to 24 cents
on a net sales increase of 3% to 10%.
For the current quarter, the company forecast per-share earnings
of 25 cents to 29 cents and net sales growth of 3% to 10% over the
latest quarter's level of $2.19 billion, implying a range between
$2.26 billion and $2.41 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters
expected per-share profit of 27 cents and revenue of $2.32
billion.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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