Applied Materials Inc. AMAT on Thursday reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that topped Wall Street views, citing a growing services business. Applied Materials earned $1.72 billion, or $2.02 a share, in the quarter, compared with $1.79 billion, or $2 a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, the chip tools maker earned $2.03 a share. Revenue rose 7% to $6.74 billion. Analysts polled by FactSet expected the company to report adjusted EPS of $1.93 on sales of $6.69 billion. Applied Materials said both the “economy and semiconductor industry are facing challenges” this year, but that it believes it will outperform its markets this year. That “resilience is underpinned by our strong positions with leading customers at key technology inflections, large backlog of differentiated products and growing service business,” Chief Executive Gary Dickerson said in a statement. The company guided for fiscal second-quarter sales of about $6.40 billion, plus or minus $400 million, which includes ongoing supply-chain “challenges” and a loss of around $250 million related to a supplier’s cybersecurity problem recently announced. It called for adjusted EPS between $1.66 and $2.02 for the quarter. FactSet consensus calls for adjusted EPS of $1.76 on sales of $6.29 billion for the fiscal first quarter.
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