Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) Tuesday posted market-beating fiscal third quarter earnings results and offered a bullish forecast for the current period...

Written by StockNews.com

The Fremont, CA-based semiconductor equipment maker reported:

• Q3 earnings per share (EPS) of $2.80, which was $0.25 better than the Wall Street consensus estimate of $2.55.
• Revenues surged 63.9% from last year to $2.15 billion, also beating analysts’ view for $2.13 billion...
• Total shipments were $2.41 billion in the latest period, up 25% sequentially from the fiscal second quarter.
• Non-GAAP gross margins were 46.1%...
• Operating margins hit 26.9%.

Looking ahead:

• LRCX forecast Q4 EPS of $2.88 to $3.12, well ahead of the $2.65 that analysts are looking for.
• Q4 revenues are seen between $2.2 and $2.4 billion, also ahead of Wall Street’s $2.19 billion view.
• Total shipments for Q4 are expected to be $2.5 billion, plus or minus $100 million

Martin Anstice, Lam Research’s President and Chief Executive Officer, commented via press release:

“The company continues to perform extremely well, again setting new records of financial performance with underlying business levels almost 70% higher than the year ago equivalent quarter. This accomplishment is made possible by our broad competitive strength, with products and services increasingly enabling the success of our customers.

Our outlook for the year has improved, and we are increasingly convinced by the potential for sustainable value creation from long-term diverse and secular technology demand trends.”

...Year-to-date, LRCX had already gained 20.98%, versus a 5.08% rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

LRCX currently has a StockNews.com POWR Rating of A (Strong Buy), and is ranked #7 of 93 stocks in the Semiconductor & Wireless Chip category.