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AMAT Applied Materials: earnings preview (20.31 +0.05)

Tonight after the close AMAT is scheduled to report Q1 results, with analysts expecting EPS of $0.17 and revs of $1.8 bln.

Thomas Weisel expects AMAT to meet or beat their Jan qtr rev and EPS estimates. They expect Jan qtr orders to meet or exceed their conservative estimate of $1.91 bln and exceed the high end of guidance.

The firm expects AMAT to guide April qtr orders up 15% q/q to $2.2 bln. They also expect April qtr rev and EPS guidance to meet or beat their current estimates of $1.92 bln and $0.21 (consensus is EPS of $0.21, revs of $1.98 bln) .

Based on recent positive end-market datapoints, the firm sees upside to their April qtr estimates. They continue to believe that AMAT will enjoy 5-6 qtrs of sequential positive order growth, supporting their above-the-Street FY07 rev growth estimate... Amtech expects solid results from AMAT tonight, saying they expect Jan qtr orders to increase by at least 15% Q/Q and April qtr orders to increase by at least 15-20% sequentially. They expect Street estimates to increase following the earnings call... A.G Edwards says given recent positive commentary from many of the co's peers as they reported December-ending quarterly results, they believe that AMAT will be able to hit the high end of its prior rev and order expectations. They currently expect first qtr revs of $1.8 bln with gross margins to remain essentially flat in the mid-44% range with earnings of $0.17 per share on the bottom line. Click here for technical levels of interest.