Applied Materials: Fiscal 2Q Earnings Snapshot

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) _ Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) on Thursday reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $666 million.

The Santa Clara, California-based company said it had net income of 70 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 66 cents per share.

The maker of chipmaking equipment posted revenue of $3.54 billion in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $3.48 billion.

For the current quarter ending in August, Applied Materials expects its per-share earnings to range from 67 cents to 75 cents.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $3.43 billion to $3.63 billion for the fiscal third quarter. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $3.57 billion.

Applied Materials shares have climbed 28% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has risen 15%. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $41.88, a fall of 24% in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on AMAT at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AMAT