Applied Materials rises as strong guidance, Q3 earnings assuage fears of a slowdown
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Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) shares edged up by 2% in after-hours trading Thursday as the semiconductor equipment company posted third-quarter results that beat expectations and issued guidance that seemed to stave off fears of a slowdown. 
For the period ending July 31, Applied Materials (AMAT) said it earned $1.94 a share, on $6.52B in revenue. Gross margins ticked down year-over-year to 46.1% from 47.9%.
A consensus of analysts were expecting Applied Materials (AMAT) to earn $1.79 a share on $6.27B in revenue.
The company also said that it expects fourth-quarter earnings to be between $1.82 and $2.18 per share, with the mid-point of $2 above the $1.94 analysts were anticipating. Fourth-quarter sales are expected to be between $6.25B and $7.05B.
In late July, Morgan Stanley cut 2023 earnings estimates on Lam Research (LRCX), KLA Corp. (KLAC) and Applied Materials (AMAT) over worries of cuts to semiconductor equipment spending.