Applied Materials' 4Q Results, 1Q Guidance Beat Wall Street Forecasts -- Earnings Review

   By Maria Armental

Applied Materials Inc., a maker of the equipment used to make computer chips, reported fourth-quarter results on Thursday. Here's what you need to know:

PROFIT: Net income fell 8% to $698 million, or 75 cents a share. On an adjusted basis, profit fell to 80 cents a share from 85 cents a share a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected 76 cents a share in adjusted profit, at the mid-range of Applied's forecast.

REVENUE: Net sales edged down 0.1% to $3.75 billion a year earlier, ahead of analysts' projected $3.68 billion.

CHINA: Net sales in China, the largest market that accounted for about 32% of sales in the quarter, rose 6% to $1.2 billion.

OUTLOOK: This quarter, Applied projects 87 cents to 95 cents a share in adjusted profit and about $4.1 billion in revenue, compared with analysts' projected 74 cents a share and $3.71 billion in revenue.

CEO: "Applied Materials' fourth quarter results reflect a healthy uptick in demand for semiconductor equipment, combined with strong execution across the company," Chief Executive Gary Dickerson said in a statement. "The semiconductor industry is increasingly adopting a new playbook for improving chip performance, power, area and cost, and we are investing in unique solutions to enable our customers' success in the AI-Big Data era."

KOKUSAI: Applied didn't address in an earnings statement the proposed acquisition of semiconductor-equipment supplier Kokusai Electric Corp. The deal is subject to review by regulators in China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Ireland and Israel.

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 14, 2019 16:24 ET (21:24 GMT)

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