Applied Materials Posts In-Line Q3 Earnings, But Sales Miss Estimates

reported in-line earnings for its fiscal third quarter, but the company's sales missed analysts' estimates. The company also issued a weak forecast for the current quarter. The Santa Clara, California-based company posted quarterly net income of $329 million, or $0.27 per share, compared to $301 million, or $0.24 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding items, the company's earnings came in at $0.33 per share. Its sales climbed to $2.49 billion from $2.27 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.33 per share on revenue of $2.54 billion. The average estimate among 25 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.34 per share and revenue of $2.56 billion. Its orders climbed 17 percent year-over-year to $2.89 billion. "Applied is focused on profitable growth and the results show in our third-quarter performance when we delivered our highest ever 300mm semiconductor equipment orders and record revenue in services," said Gary Dickerson, president and CEO. "Our highly differentiated materials engineering products help customers accelerate major technology inflections including 3D NAND, and this quarter we generated the highest flash memory orders in our history." For the fourth quarter, the company projects adjusted earnings of $0.27 to $0.31 per share. Analysts expected earnings of $0.33 per share. The company also expects Q4 net sales to be in the range of flat to down 7 percent versus the earlier quarter. Applied Materials shares fell 1.17 percent to $16.85 in the after-hours trading session.