Will Display Strength Aid Applied (AMAT) in Q2 Earnings?
Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT is set to report fiscal second-quarter 2018 results on May 17.In the last reported quarter, it delivered a positive earnings surprise of 9.28%.
The company’s surprise history has been pretty impressive. It beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, with an average positive earnings surprise of 4.76%.
Notably, on a 12-month basis, Applied Materials’ shares have returned 23.7%, underperforming the industry’s gain of 32.5%.
Let’s see how things are shaping up for this announcement.
Strong Demand for Applied’s Services
The company has well-differentiated products and high market share, and is efficiently delivering key enabling technology to logic and foundry customers. Service is an important part of Applied's portfolio that grew significantly in the last reported quarter. The Applied Global Services (AGS) segment increased 5.9% sequentially and 30.2% year over year. The segment is expected to perform well in the quarter to be reported, driven by improved device and yield performance. The ZacksConsensus Estimate for the second quarter for AGS is pegged at $890 million.
Strength in Display to Drive Revenues
The company has gained considerable success in expanding beyond semiconductors, particularly in display. New display technologies such as OLED are opening new market opportunities for Applied Materials. The available market opportunity is now more than 10 times that of the traditional LCD. In the last reported quarter, the Display segment was down 32.8% from fiscal fourth-quarter 2017 but up 7.8% from the year-ago level. The segment is expected to be driven by significant opportunities coming from investments in areas such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud infrastructure, Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality and smart vehicles. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the to-be-reported quarter for the Display segment is pegged at $579 million.
However, increasing competition, high fixed-cost structure and customer concentration remain major concerns that could affect the results in the fiscal second quarter.
Applied Materials, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise
Applied Materials, Inc. Price and EPS Surprise | Applied Materials, Inc. Quote
What Our Model Suggests
According to the Zacks model, a company with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) has a good chance of beating estimates if it also has a positive Earnings ESP. Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell) stocks are best avoided, especially if these have a negative Earnings ESP. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.
Applied Materials has a Zacks Rank #3 and an Earnings ESP of 0.00%, a combination that does not suggest that the company is likely to beat estimates.
Stocks to Consider
We see a likely earnings beat for each of the following companies.
Intuit Inc. INTU has an Earnings ESP of +1.24% and a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Rexnord Corporation RXN has an Earnings ESP of +9.45% and a Zacks Rank of 2.
GAIN Capital Holdings, Inc. GAIN has an Earnings ESP of +5.56% and a Zacks Rank #3.
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