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Semiconductor Sales to Aid Applied Materials' (AMAT) Q2 Earnings

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Applied Materials, Inc.’s (AMAT - Free Report) second-quarter fiscal 2022 results, which are scheduled to release on May 19, are likely to reflect a solid momentum across the Semiconductor Systems segment.

The underlined segment offers equipment for front-end operations in the semiconductor manufacturing process.

The segment has become an integral division of the company as it generates a significant part of net sales. Notably, Semiconductor Systems sales were $4.6 billion in the last reported quarter, accounting for 70.3% of net sales. The figure also rose 29% year over year.

The rising demand for semiconductor equipment is expected to have continued driving the segment’s fiscal second-quarter sales.

For second-quarter fiscal 2022, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for semiconductor sales is pegged at $4.61 billion, suggesting growth of 16.1% from the prior-year quarter’s reported figure.

Click here to know how the company’s overall fiscal second-quarter performance is likely to have been.

Factors at Play

The Semiconductor Systems segment is expected to have continued benefiting from the growing traction across etch, metal deposition systems and chemical-mechanical planarization.

Solid demand across DRAM, and foundry and logic are expected to have been a major tailwind. The growing customer momentum for integrated solutions is anticipated to have been a positive.

Applied Materials’ winning critical applications in NAND are expected to have benefited its position in etch in the quarter under review.

The company’s application wins for its high-growth semi products in dielectric deposition, etch and inspection are expected to have contributed to the fiscal second-quarter performance.

Applied Materials is expected to have gained traction in the IoT, communications, automotive, power and image sensor markets, courtesy of its strong investments in capacity and new advanced technologies, and the growing demand for specialty nodes.

Increasing customer spending in foundry and logic is anticipated to have acted as a tailwind. This is likely to have aided the company’s momentum across the optical wafer inspection space in the to-be-reported quarter.

Solid momentum across technologies, such as Epitaxy, Physical Vapor Deposition, Ion Implant, Rapid Thermal Processing, and Metrology and Inspection, is expected to have aided the segment’s performance in the fiscal second quarter.

However, supply constraints due to the ongoing pandemic are expected to have been headwinds for the underlined segment in the to-be-reported quarter.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Currently, Applied Materials carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Investors interested in the broader technology sector can consider some better-ranked stocks like Avnet (AVT - Free Report) , Monolithic Power Systems (MPWR - Free Report) and MaxLinear (MXL - Free Report) . While Avnet and Monolithic Power Systems sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), MaxLinear carries a Zacks Rank of 2 at present (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Avnet has gained 8% in the past year. The long-term earnings growth rate for AVT is currently projected at 37.2%.

Monolithic Power Systems has gained 34.8% in the past year. The long-term earnings growth rate for MPWR is currently projected at 25%.

MaxLinear has rallied 21.9% in the past year. The long-term earnings growth rate for MXL is currently projected at 20%.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.


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