Applied Materials Stock Falls After Earnings Weren't Quite Good Enough
Shares of Applied Materials fell in late trading Thursday after the chip equipment maker reported solid earnings for its fiscal third quarter.Applied Materials remains a beneficiary of ballooning capital expenditures on artificial-intelligence processors and memory chips, but that trend also meant the company had a high bar to clear Thursday.The stock fell 3.5% to $516 in after-hours trading. Shares tumbled 30% in July, but are up 108% this year.Applied Materials reported adjusted earnings of $3.50 a share for the quarter, up from $2.48 a year ago and above analysts' consensus estimates of $3.40, per FactSet. Revenue jumped 25% from the year prior to $9.12 billion, beating Wall Street's call for $9 billion.The company expects revenue of $10.25 billion, plus or minus $500 million, and adjusted earnings of $4.02 a share, plus or minus 20 cents, for its fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts had forecast revenue of $9.55 billion and adjusted earnings of $3.71 a share.
