Applied Materials Sees Market Share Gains from R&D efforts

Applied Materials (AMAT) issued July quarter results that were within guidance and therefore probably a disappointment to speculators.

You can read my notes here: Applied Materials fiscal Q3 2013 Analyst Call

Applied Materials makes the rather expensive machines that are used to make semiconductor chips. The optimistic part of the presentation I found believable was that AMAT has been able to cut administrative expenses and move the money over to use for R&D. The result is new, improved machines that will gain market share, in particular as the newer 20 nm-ish process node goes mainstream in 2014.

In any case Applied Materials generates a lot of cash and pays a nice dividend. It is one of the safest stocks I own, and if 2014 is a good year, hopefully they will increase the dividend again.

I hope to write at more length for Seeking Alpha, but I have several other companies on my list at this point, so it could be a while.