Applied Materials campus in Silicon Valley

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Applied Materials jumps after posting better-than-expected Q1 results, strong Q2 outlook

The semicap company just reported its Q1 results.

Applied Materials is surging in postmarket trading after posting better-than-expected Q1 results along with a robust Q2 outlook.

For its fiscal Q1, the semicap company reported:

Net revenue of $7.01 billion (estimate: $6.86 billion, guidance for $6.35 billion to $7.35 billion).
Adjusted earnings per share of $2.38 (estimate: $2.21, guidance for $1.98 to $2.38).

Profitability was also a strong point, as adjusted gross margins came in at 49.1% for the quarter, north of estimates and guidance for 48.4%.

For Q2, management expects:

Net revenue of $7.65 billion, plus or minus $500 million (estimate: $7.03 billion).
Adjusted EPS of $2.64, plus or minus $0.20 (estimate: $2.29).

This robust near-term guidance is particularly encouraging, as the company reiterated that it sees demand picking up toward the second half of the year.

“The need for higher performance and more energy-efficient chips is driving high growth rates for leading-edge logic, high-bandwidth memory [HBM] and advanced packaging,” President and CEO Gary Dickerson said in a press release. He also said the company expects to grow its semiconductor equipment business by over 20% this calendar year.

“Our largest customers are giving us increased longer term visibility to ensure we have operational capacity and service support in place for their ramps,” he added during the conference call. “Based on this visibility, we expect strong growth momentum to be carried into 2027.”

The company said that HBM and 3D chiplet stacking, two areas where AMAT has strong market share, will be the fastest-growing industry segments this year.

The longevity and magnitude of the AI boom has fueled a sharp rise in Applied Materials so far in 2026, as an enduring supply/demand imbalance pushes chipmakers to boost capacity, bolstering the outlook for wafer fab equipment sales.

CFO Brice Hill said the company was “well-positioned to meet the increasing demand” because “we’ve proactively increased our inventory by nearly $500 million year-over-year to meet the increasing build plans.”

All this has more than offset any lingering worries about the state of its China business after management warned in early October that export restrictions would curb sales by roughly $600 million this fiscal year.

Late on Wednesday, the company reached an agreement that will see it pay $252.5 million to settle a Commerce Department probe into allegations that some of its business with China ran afoul of export restrictions.

Nate Becker1h

DraftKings drops after issuing downbeat 2026 sales, profit forecasts

DraftKings plunged after the sports betting company gave downbeat guidance for the current year.

Shares were down 15% in recent after-hours trading.

It forecast:

Revenue between $6.5 billion and $6.9 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates of $7.29 billion, according to FactSet.
Adjusted EBITDA of $700 million to $900 million, compared with estimates of $981 million.

For the fourth quarter, DraftKings posted:

Revenue of $1.99 billion, in line with Wall Street’s $1.99 billion expectation
Earnings per share of $0.25, compared with a consensus estimate of $0.09.

DraftKings Reports Fourth Quarter Revenue Growth of 43% | DraftKings Inc.

It forecast:

Revenue between $6.5 billion and $6.9 billion, compared with analysts’ estimates of $7.29 billion, according to FactSet.
Adjusted EBITDA of $700 million to $900 million, compared with estimates of $981 million.

For the fourth quarter, DraftKings posted:

Revenue of $1.99 billion, in line with Wall Street’s $1.99 billion expectation
Earnings per share of $0.25, compared with a consensus estimate of $0.09.

Max Knoblauch2h

Rivian climbs after posting better-than-expected Q4 results; sees R2 SUV hitting the market in Q2

EV maker Rivian reported its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings results after markets closed on Thursday. Its shares climbed 13% in after-hours trading.

In the fourth quarter, which coincided with the end of federal EV tax credits in the US, Rivian booked $1.29 billion in revenue, down 26% year over year but above analysts’ expectations of $1.26 billion. The company posted an adjusted loss of $0.54 per share in Q4, compared to the expected loss of $0.68 per share.

Rivian forecast full-year adjusted losses in the range of $1.8 billion to $2.1 billion, compared to the $1.75 billion loss expected by Wall Street.

2026 is set to be a big year for the company, with its upcoming $45,000 R2 SUV planned to begin deliveries in the second quarter. Rivian issued full-year delivery guidance of between 62,000 and 67,000 vehicles, compared to Wall Street’s expectations of 65,700. Analysts polled by FactSet expect 14,700 of those 2026 deliveries to be R2s. Last year, Rivian delivered 42,247 vehicles.

“It’s incredibly exciting to see the early strong reviews of the R2 pre-production builds, and we can’t wait to get them to our customers next quarter,” CEO RJ Scaringe said.

Matt Phillips2h

Arista Networks soars as it beats on Q4 EPS and revenue, gives upbeat sales guidance

Arista Networks, which sells equipment and software used to run and monitor data center networks, reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings and sales after the close of trading on Thursday.

Arista shares were up about 9% in the after-hours session.

Here’s what the switch and router maker reported:

Adjusted earnings per share of $0.82 vs. Wall Street expectations for $0.76, according to FactSet.
Sales of $2.49 billion vs. an expected $2.38 billion, per FactSet data.
A non-GAAP Q4 gross margin, a measure of how profitable a company’s core products are to produce, of 63.4% vs. previous guidance of 62% to 63%.
Guidance for Q1 sales of approximately $2.6 billion vs. the $2.46 billion expected on Wall Street.
Guidance for a Q1 non-GAAP gross margin of between 62% and 63% vs. the 63% FactSet forecast.

Matt Phillips2h

Coinbase posts record stablecoin revenue but falls short of expectations for Q4 sales

Shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase jumped after-hours on Thursday after the company reported record stablecoin revenue, despite Q4 revenue numbers that missed Wall Street expectations.

The stock was up 3.1% in recent trading.

Revenue came in at $1.78 billion vs. the $1.81 billion consensus analyst expectation, per FactSet.
Transaction revenue was $982.7 million vs. a $998 million forecast.
The company reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.66, compared with $3.37 a year earlier.
Stablecoin revenue hit a record $364.1 million, up 61% from the same quarter the previous year.

Earlier Thursday, Coinbase seemingly suffered an outage, saying it was “aware that customers may be unable to buy, sell, transfer on Coinbase.com at this time,” but noting that “your funds are safe.” The company said the issue was resolved just over an hour later.

Coinbase shares — which were added to the S&P 500 last May — have been crushed by the downturn in crypto this year. Through Wednesday’s close, the stock was down by more than 30% in 2026. And that was before the stock caught a double downgrade on Thursday before the report.

Tasha Matsumoto

Tech drags down stocks amid continued AI anxiety

Tech led losses while defensive sectors utilities and consumer staples led gains.

Staley Da Bear mascot sits in the endzone during the game between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field on September 13, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois.