Applied Materials Reports Lower Profit, Revenue

Microchip equipment maker Applied Materials posted a drop in its fiscal second quarter revenue and profit on Tuesday in the face of a slump dogging the industry and a glut of flash memory chips.

Its shares fell 1.3 percent after the news, even tough revenue and earnings were slightly ahead of analyst estimates.

Applied posted a profit of $302.5 million, or 22 cents per share, for the quarter ended April 27, compared with a profit of $411.4 million or 29 cents per share a year ago.

Excluding one-time items, it earned 23 cents a share, edging the average analyst forecast of 22 cents, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue fell to $2.15 billion from $2.53 billion.

Analysts on average had expected revenue of $2.13 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

"We are ramping our display and solar businesses while addressing the challenges of a weaker global chip equipment market," said Chief Executive Mike Splinter in a statement.

The company reported new orders of $2.41 billion for the second quarter, down 9 percent from the year ago quarter.

It said backlog at the end of the second quarter was $4.59 billion, compared with $4.10 billion at the end of the first quarter.

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