Why Applied Materials Stock Just Popped 9%

Shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT), a producer of equipment for the manufacture of semiconductor chips and solar panels, are soaring in early Friday trading, up 9.2% as of 10:30 a.m. EST.

The reason: earnings.

Last night, Applied Materials ran circles around Wall Street estimates for its fiscal Q4 results, reporting quarterly sales of $3.75 billion and "non-GAAP" profits of $0.80 per share. Street analysts were only looking for $0.76 per share earned on sales of $3.68 billion -- and Applied beat those numbers handily.

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Source Fool.com