Applied Materials Inc. beat analysts' third-quarter quarter profit expectations by a penny amid a 104-per-cent surge in sales and a 134-per-cent jump in new orders.
After the close of stock markets, the Santa Clara, California-based semiconductor-equipment maker said profit in the three months ended August 1 rose to $441-million (U.S.) or 26 cents a share, compared with a loss of $37-million or 2 cents a share a year ago.
Analysts were expecting a profit of 25 cents a share, according to a consensus among analysts polled by Thomson First Call.
Sales at the world's largest supplier of machines for making chips soared to $2.24-billion from $1.09-billion, topping analyst targets of $2.1-billion. Sales rose 11 per cent from the prior quarter.
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New orders surged to $2.46-billion from $1.05-billion a year ago. Third-quarter gross margin was 47.4 per cent, up from 31.7 per cent in the year-ago quarter and up from up from 46.5 per cent in the previous quarter.
Backlog at the end of the third quarter was $2.99-billion, compared to $2.80 billion at the end of the previous second quarter.
The company's stock added 43 cents or 2.75 per cent to $16.07 ahead of its results. It has a 52-week high of $25.94 and a low of $15.36.
On Monday, Applied Materials said it was buying Metron Technology N.V. for $85-million to expand on its services unit. Shares of Metron surged more than 100 per cent in Tuesday trading.