Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) gave nothing short of a crummy earnings report. It was actually a loss report. The chip equipment company posted a non-GAAP loss of $136 million, or -$0.10 EPS; and that is compared to a gain of $362 million last year. Revenues were $1.02 billion, and that is down from $2.15 billion for the same period last year.
The positive side of the equation is that Thomson Reuters estimates were -$0.10 EPS and $906.6 million for the quarter. So things were not as bad as they could have been.
The company said new orders totaled $649 million and its backlog was $3.16 billion. The backlog at the end of the sequential period just three months ago was $4.05 billion. Unfortunately, that is still a move in the wrong direction.
Shares are trading higher after the close because of Intel’s reiterated comments about business having bottomed out and perhaps not looking quite as bad as guessed. Applied Materials is seeing shares up 0.5% at $11.55 in the after-hours session after closing down 2% at $11.48 in regular trading, and the 52-week trading range is $7.80 to $20.90.
Sometimes, atrociously bad is still OK. As a reminder, until any guidance or forward looking comments are out this is just partial data.
JON C. OGG
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