Applied Materials beats estimates, shares rise

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -- The world's largest chip equipment maker, Applied Materials Inc., sharply narrowed its quarterly loss on better-than-expected revenue Tuesday, thanks to a strong jump in new orders and deep cost cuts, sending its shares up 1.6%.

Applied Materials (AMAT, Fortune 500), whose competitors include No. 2 chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron Ltd .and (TOELF) KLA Tencor Corp. (KLAC) , reported its third consecutive net loss in the third quarter ended July 26 of $55 million, or 4 cents a share.

That is down from a profit of $164.77 million, or 12 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding certain items, the company reported a loss of $2 million, or near break-even on a per-share basis, versus a profit of $228 million, or 17 cents a share, a year ago.

Revenue fell 38.9% from a year ago to $1.13 billion from $1.85 billion, but came in above expectations for $953.06 million.

Shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based Applied Materials rose 1.6% in after-hours trading after closing down 1.86% at $13.22 on Nasdaq.