Applied Leaves Little To Imagination (AMAT)

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) just reported earnings.  There was of course the expected drop as many chip and chip equipment players have shown.  Although the company warned about earnings, there were very few very negative surprises here.

The company had a net GAAP loss of $133 million.  On a non-GAAP basis it earned $0.00 on revenus of $1.33 billion.  Technically, the non-GAAP number was a loss of $3 million.  First Call projected no profit and $1.35 billion.

Applied’s gross margin was 29.4% and the company’s new orders were $903 million.  If you tally up long-term investments with cash and short-term liquidity instruments, the company ended the quarter with roughly $3.1 billion.

The company cut costs and expects to weather the recession. It expects to introduce new products thanks to its leading technology and strong balance sheet,

Shares closed down 4.4% at $9.69 today.  We have shares down a nickel or a dime from there after the report.  As a reminder, this is incomplete without guidance.  If the company does offer guidance, those estimates for the coming quarter are -$0.04 non-GAAP EPS and $1.13 billion in revenue.

Jon C. Ogg
February 10, 2009