By Maria Armental

Applied Materials Inc. maintained a bullish outlook, projecting record quarterly sales that could top $6 billion.

The company, which had pointed to what it saw as a decade-plus investment cycle, expects an adjusted profit this quarter of $1.70 to $1.82 a share and $5.72 billion to $6.12 billion in net sales, compared with analysts' projected $1.56 a share in adjusted profit and $5.53 billion in revenue.

"Applied Materials' record performance is underpinned by broad-based strength across our semiconductor businesses," Chief Executive Gary Dickerson said in a statement discussing the company's second-quarter results and third-quarter outlook. "We are confident in our ability to outperform our markets as large, secular trends create sustainable demand for semiconductors and our leadership in materials engineering becomes increasingly critical to deliver new chip technologies."

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-20-21 1630ET