2/16/2012 5:55 PM ET
(RTTNews) - Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT: News ), the world's biggest semiconductor equipment maker, said Thursday that its first quarter profit fell 77% from last year, as sales dropped and margins deteriorated amid a challenging global economic and industry environment.
However, the company's quarterly earnings per share, excluding items, came in above analysts' expectations as did its quarterly sales.
At the same time, the company issued second quarter outlook that was well ahead of analysts' current consensus estimates.
Applied Materials shares are currently up 4.69% in after hours trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $13.21, up 31 cents or 2.40%. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $9.70 to $16.93.
The Santa Clara, California-based company saw sales declining in all of its four businesses. First quarter sales from the company's silicon business fell 13% from a year earlier, while sales from display business slipped 28% from last year.
Sales drop was even sharper in the company's energy and environmental solutions business amid weakness in the solar industry. The division's sales dropped 57% from a year ago. Sales from from company's services business declined only 6% from last year.
The company's order book was also light compared to a year earlier. The company generated $2.01 billion worth of new orders in the first quarter, down 32% from $2.97 billion of orders generated in the same quarter last year. The decline in orders is due to ongoing weakness in LCD TV equipment demand and overcapacity in the solar industry.
Europe contributed 11% of the new orders for the first quarter, while North America contributed 23%, Southeast Asia 3%, China 4%, Taiwan 18%, Japan 8% and Korea contributed 33%. Backlog fell by $230 million to $2.2 billion at the end of the first quarter.
Applied Materials completed the acquisition of Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc. during the quarter, and the results include Varian's operations for the full period. During the quarter, Varian generated orders of about $270 million and net sales of about $200 million. The business contributed about $0.01 to the company's adjusted earnings per share.
Applied Materials reported net income for the first quarter of $117 million or $0.09 per share, compared to $506 million or $0.38 per share for the year-ago quarter.
Excluding items, adjusted net income for the first quarter was $240 million or $0.18 per share, compared to $484 million or $0.36 per share in the prior year quarter.
On average, 21 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.12 per share for the first quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
 | | To receive FREE breaking news email alerts for Applied Materials Inc. and others in your portfolio |
|
1
2
Next Page