AMAT Stock: Applied Materials Trounces Quarterly Targets, Guides Higher
Semiconductor equipment maker Applied Materials (AMAT) late Thursday beat Wall Street's targets for its fiscal second quarter and guided higher than views for the current period. But AMAT stock wavered in extended trading.
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The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company earned an adjusted $2 a share on sales of $6.63 billion in the quarter ended April 30. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected earnings of $1.84 a share on sales of $6.39 billion. On a year-over-year basis, Applied Materials earnings increased 8% while sales rose 6%.
For the current quarter, Applied Materials predicted adjusted earnings of $1.74 a share on sales of $6.15 billion. That's based on the midpoint of its outlook. Wall Street had called for earnings of $1.66 a share on sales of $6.06 billion in the fiscal third quarter.
"Applied Materials delivered strong results in our second fiscal quarter with revenues and earnings in the high-end of our guidance range, and we expect to outperform our markets in 2023," Chief Executive Gary Dickerson said in a news release.
He added, "Our longer-term outlook is very positive as semiconductors become a larger and more strategically important market globally and major technology inflections are enabled by materials engineering, creating outsized growth opportunities for Applied."
AMAT Stock Seesaws After Report
In after-hours trading on the stock market today, AMAT stock alternated between gains and losses. During the regular session Thursday, AMAT stock rose 3.4% to close at 129.92.
On Wednesday, AMAT stock hit a buy point of 125.72 out of a cup base, according to IBD MarketSmith charts. It remained in the 5% buy zone on Thursday.
Applied Materials ranks third out of 29 stocks in IBD's semiconductor equipment industry group, according to IBD Stock Checkup. Shares hold an IBD Composite Rating of 97 out of 99.
IBD's Composite Rating is a blend of key fundamental and technical metrics to help investors gauge a stock's strengths. Further, the best growth stocks have a Composite Rating of 90 or better.
Also, AMAT stock is on the IBD Tech Leaders list.
Follow Patrick Seitz on Twitter at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.
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Source: Investor's Business Daily
