• Record quarterly revenue of $4.57 billion, up 29 percent year over year
  
  
• Record EPS of $1.09 and non-GAAP EPS of $1.22, up 43 percent and 54 percent year over year, respectively
  
  
• $2.6 billion returned to shareholders including buybacks equivalent to 4 percent of shares outstanding

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 17, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) today reported record revenue, operating profit and earnings per share in its second quarter ended April 29, 2018.

Second Quarter Results

Compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2017, Applied grew net sales by 29 percent to $4.57 billion. On a GAAP basis, the company increased gross margin by 0.7 points to 45.8 percent, and grew operating income by 41 percent to $1.33 billion or 29.1 percent of net sales. GAAP earnings per share (EPS) grew 43 percent to $1.09.

On a non-GAAP adjusted basis, over the same period, the company increased gross margin by 0.4 points to 46.7 percent, grew operating income by 40 percent to $1.38 billion or 30.2 percent of net sales, and increased EPS by 54 percent to $1.22.

The company generated $611 million in cash from operations and returned $2.6 billion to shareholders through $2.5 billion in share repurchases and dividends of $105 million.

“Applied’s performance in the second fiscal quarter was another all-time record for the company, which demonstrates strong execution and customer pull for materials solutions that help accelerate roadmaps and bring new devices to market faster,” said Gary Dickerson, president and CEO. “Applied has the broadest opportunity across major technology trends, and our markets are strong, with long-term growth drivers firmly in place.”

Quarterly Results Summary

A reconciliation of the GAAP and non-GAAP adjusted results is provided in the financial tables included in this release. See also “Use of Non-GAAP Adjusted Financial Measures” section.

Business Outlook

In the third quarter of fiscal 2018, Applied expects net sales to be in the range of $4.33 billion to $4.53 billion; the midpoint of the range would be an increase of approximately 18 percent, year over year. Non-GAAP adjusted diluted EPS is expected to be in the range of $1.13 to $1.21; the midpoint of the range would be an increase of approximately 36 percent, year over year.

This outlook for non-GAAP adjusted diluted EPS excludes known charges related to completed acquisitions of $0.05 per share and includes the normalized tax benefit of share-based compensation of $0.01 per share, but does not reflect any items that are unknown at this time, such as any additional charges related to acquisitions or other non-operational or unusual items, as well as other tax related items, which we are not able to predict without unreasonable efforts due to their inherent uncertainty.

Second Quarter Reportable Segment Information