(RTTNews) - Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT: News ), the world's biggest semiconductor equipment maker, is slated to release its fourth-quarter results after the market closes Wednesday.

In its third-quarter earnings conference call, the Santa Clara, California-based company said it expects to return to profitability in the fourth quarter, with earnings within a range of break even to a positive $0.04 per share, and revenues are projected rise 10% to 20% sequentially, led by display, SSG and AGS, implying fourth-quarter revenue of $1.24 billion to $1.36 billion.

On average, 27 analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expect the company to post earnings of $0.03 per share for the quarter, with estimates ranging between $0.01 and $0.06 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. Revenues for the quarter are estimated to be $1.32 billion, representing a 35.6% fall from the same period last year.

In the same quarter a year ago, the company had reported GAAP net income of $231 million or $0.17 per share, non-GAAP net income of $264 million or $0.20 per share, and net sales of $2.04 billion.

For the fiscal year 2009, Wall Street analysts project a loss of $0.14 per share, with estimates between loss of $0.18 and $0.11 per share, while revenue is estimated to be $4.80 billion, representing a 40.9% decline from the previous year.

FBR Capital Markets Tuesday revised its fiscal 2009 forecast for Applied Materials and now expects loss of $0.05 per share, compared to previous loss forecast of $0.06 per share.
In fiscal 2008, the company's GAAP net income was $961 million or $0.70 per share, and non-GAAP net income was $1.20 billion or $0.87 per share, on net sales of $8.13 billion.

During the third-quarter conference call with analysts, Mike Splinter, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer had stated that there are more indications that "demand is growing and for the first time in a long while we see positive trends in our business. This quarter our financial results improved in almost every category and we are seeing order growth following the steep declines of the first half of our fiscal year."

While talking about the company's expectations for the fourth quarter, Applied Materials Chief Financial Officer George Davis said, "The economic and industry trends are generally more favorable than last quarter. Our customers remain cautious and are focused on near-term opportunities. Visibility beyond one to two months remains limited. We expect that a number of factors may cause customers to change their investment plans. While we are not giving a company target for orders we do expect growth in orders quarter-over-quarter driven primarily by higher display and EES orders."

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