SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) _ Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) on Thursday reported fiscal third-quarter net income of $1.72 billion.

The Santa Clara, California-based company said it had profit of $1.87 per share. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were $1.90 per share.

The results topped Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.76 per share.

The maker of chipmaking equipment posted revenue of $6.2 billion in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $5.92 billion.

For the current quarter ending in October, Applied Materials expects its per-share earnings to range from $1.87 to $2.01. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had forecast adjusted earnings per share of $1.78.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $6.08 billion to $6.58 billion for the fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $5.98 billion.

Applied Materials shares have climbed 50% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P's 500 index has increased 17%. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $129.07, a climb of 96% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on AMAT at https://www.zacks.com/ap/AMAT

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