Applied Materials Inc, the world’s largest producer of chipmaking equipment, forecast fiscal fourth-quarter profits that beat analysts’ estimates as semiconductor manufacturers order gear to expand their output.
Profit in the current quarter ending on Nov. 1 would be US$0.28 to US$0.32 a share, excluding certain items, the Santa Clara, California-based company said on Wednesday in a statement. That compares with an average estimate of U$0.26 in a Bloomberg survey.
The company got “strong” orders from all of its customers, including makers of memory chips, made-to-order chips, flat screens and solar panels, chief financial officer George Davis said in an interview.
While equipment buyers are concerned that consumer demand may weaken, Applied is still anticipating rising orders in its fourth quarter, he said.
The company said last month that it was giving up on an attempt to break into a new part of the solar-panel equipment business and would stop selling its SunFab lines, which use thin-film technology.
Applied is cutting as many as 500 jobs globally as part of the shutdown. It said on Wednesday that closing the unit would cost US$405 million.
The company said its net income in the third quarter ended Aug. 1 was US$123.1 million, or US$0.09 a share, rebounding from a US$54.9 million loss a year earlier. Sales more than doubled to US$2.52 billion in the quarter ended Aug. 1 from US$1.13 billion a year earlier.
New orders in the third quarter rose to US$2.7 billion, the highest total since 2000, the company said in an e-mailed statement.
Applied said fourth-quarter revenue would rise about 5 percent from the previous period. That indicates sales of about US$2.64 billion, compared with an average estimate of US$2.44 billion from analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
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