Applied Materials forecasts quarterly revenue slightly above estimates; shares fall

(Reuters) -Applied Materials forecast fourth-quarter revenue slightly above Wall Street estimates on Thursday, anticipating a surge in AI-fueled demand for its chip-making equipment.

But shares of the Santa Clara, California-based company were down 2.8% in extended trading after having closed about 5% higher.

"I think some of the aftermarket pullback is based on how much the stock went up today... the mixed sales report from China and the wide variance in their fourth-quarter forecast," said Michael Ashley Schulman, chief investment officer at Running Point Capital.

"Some analysts may have been looking for a more robust next-quarter forecast."

Booming demand for AI-powered chips has increased the need for sophisticated and expensive wafer fabrication equipment essential for chip manufacturing, benefiting companies such as Applied Materials.

A rise in demand for high-performance computing and data centers has also boosted the need for memory semiconductors such as dynamic random access memory.

The largest U.S. semiconductor equipment maker expects fourth-quarter revenue of about $6.93 billion, plus or minus $400 million, compared with analysts' average estimate of $6.92 billion, according to LSEG data.

It forecast adjusted profit per share between $2.00 and $2.36, compared with an estimate of $2.14 per share.

Applied Materials, which supplies chipmaking tools to Samsung Electronics, TSMC and Intel, competes with Lam Research, Dutch firm ASML and KLA Corp.

The company reported third-quarter revenue of $6.78 billion, beating an average estimate of $6.67 billion. Revenue from China fell 24% sequentially, to $2.15 billion.

Its adjusted profit per share was $2.12 per share, compared with the estimate of $2.02.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)