Will Applied Materials Maintain Its Profit Margin in Fiscal 2Q18?

In the previous article, we saw that Applied Materials (AMAT) crossed the $1 billion quarterly revenue mark in fiscal 1Q18 and is growing steadily every quarter as demand from memory customers increases. Its non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) gross margin expanded 3.6% from 42.7% in fiscal 1Q16 to 46.3% in fiscal 1Q17 driven by high volumes and a rich product mix. On the other hand, KLA-Tencor (KLAC) improved its gross margin by 1.5% from 62.5% in 1Q17 to 64% in 1Q18.