Shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) fell more than 8% early Friday, then settled to trade down around 4.3% as of 3:30 p.m. ET as reports of a new criminal probe by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) overshadowed the semiconductor-equipment specialist's strong quarterly results.

On the latter, after the market closed on Thursday Applied Materials announced its fiscal fourth-quarter revenue arrived roughly flat from the same year-ago period at $6.72 billion, translating to 4% growth in adjusted (non-GAAP) earnings to $2.12 per share. Analysts, on average, were expecting earnings of only $1.99 per share on revenue of $6.5 billion.

Applied Materials CEO Gary Dickerson noted the company outgrew the broader wafer-fabrication equipment market for the fifth straight year, achieving record revenue, earnings, and cash flow in fiscal 2023.

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Source Fool.com