Applied Materials Inc, the Santa Clara, California-based provider of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and services, has reported third-quarter net income of $244.4m on revenue up 62.1% at $1.43bn, compared to net income of $47.5m in the year-ago quarter. Earnings per share rose to $0.61, beating the First Call consensus by $0.08, from $0.13 a year ago. Year-ago results include $35m in one-time charges.
New orders for the quarter reached $1.46bn, an increase of 5% from the preceding quarter and 140% from the year-ago quarter. North America accounted for 28% of new orders, with Taiwan at 26%, Japan at 16%, Europe at 16%, Korea at 8% and Southeast Asia and China at 6%. Backlog at the end of the quarter was $1.34bn. Gross margin for the quarter increased to 48.7%, from 46.3% for the prior quarter and 44.6% for the third quarter of 1998.
For the nine-month period, net income rose 5.1% to $438.9m on revenue down 2.2% at $3.29bn, while earnings per share rose $0.01 to $1.11. Results include $5m and $67.2m in one-time charges for the current year and last year, respectively. The company finished the quarter with $2.26bn in cash and short-term investments.
