Applied Materials (AMAT-NASDAQ): EPS was $0.29 and Revenues were $2.28 Billion; expectations were $0.27 & $2.35B. They posted new orders of $2.54 Billion, up 24% year over year but down 6% sequentially. Gross margin for the first quarter of fiscal 2007 was 46.7 percent, up from 45.1 percent for the first quarter of fiscal 2006, and down from 47.1 percent for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006.
The is not any formal guidance until the conference call, but CEO Mike Splinter said: "We executed effectively and met our operational objectives for the quarter. Rapid customer acceptance of our new leading-edge platforms for chemical vapor deposition and metal etch, as well as strong demand for Applied’s service products, set the stage for future growth." This doesn’t mean they ARE growing per se and you can’t read too much into the comments either way. There was no guidance, but Next quarter expectations from the street are also $0.27 & $2.35 Billion.
The stock has been dead money for the better part of 4-months so if anyone was demanding blow-out numbers to stay in the name then they are reading different tea leaves than we are. It is still closer to the $20.90 year-high but its low is $14.3 and it closed the day at $18.18. Shares are down less than 0.5% for the initial reaction to the mixed earnings.
Jon C. Ogg
February 13, 2007
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