Investing.com – Applied Materials on Thursday reported fiscal second-quarter results that beat estimates, led by strong growth in China as the wave of artificial intelligence continues to boost demand for chips.
Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:) fell more than 1% in the after-hours on the news.
For the three months ended April 28, adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) were $2.09, up from $2.00 a year earlier, while revenue rose to $6.65 billion from $6.63 billion. This was ahead of analyst expectations for earnings per share of $1.99 and revenue of $6.54 billion.
Sales in China doubled to $2.83 billion in the second quarter from $1.41 billion in the same period a year earlier, while sales in the United States fell to $853 million from $1.11 billion a year earlier.
Adjusted gross profit margin increased to 47.5% during the period from 46.8% in the previous year.
Looking at the fiscal third quarter, the company expects fiscal second quarter adjusted EPS to be between $1.83 and $2.19 per share on sales of about $6.65 billion, plus or minus $400 million. That compares to Wall Street estimates for adjusted earnings of $1.97 per share on revenue of $6.59 billion.