Applied Materials Q3 Results Beat Street

(RTTNews) - Chip equipment maker Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT), Thursday reported third-quarter earnings and revenues that were above Wall Street expectations.

Santa Clara, California-based Applied Materials' third-quarter profit dropped to $571 million or $0.61 per share from $1.02 billion or $1.01 per share last year.

On an adjusted basis, earnings for the quarter dropped to $0.74 per share from $1.04 per share last year.

Sales for the third quarter dropped 14% to $3.56 billion from $4.16 billion last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimate earnings of $0.70 per share and revenues of $3.52 billion for the quarter.

"Applied Materials is delivering solid financial performance in a market environment that remains challenging for the time being," said Gary Dickerson, president and CEO. "We are excited about the company's future opportunities and are fully funding our R&D programs to develop new products and capabilities that will accelerate customers' roadmaps and underpin our growth in the years ahead."

Looking forward to the fourth quarter, Applied Materials expects net sales to be about $3.685 billion, plus or minus $150 million adjusted earnings of $0.72 to $0.80 per share. Analysts currently estimate $0.75 per share and revenues of $3.64 billion.

AMAT closed Thursday's trading at $47.16, up $0.45 or 0.96%, on the Nasdaq. The stock, however, dropped to $1.22 or 2.59% in the after-hours trade.