Applied Materials, Baidu: After-Hours Trading (Update 1)

Updated from 4:49 p.m. ET to include latest share prices, additional information on Baidu, Qlik Technologies.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Applied Materials(AMAT) rose in late trades on Thursday after the maker of semiconductor capital equipment handily beat Wall Street earnings expectations in its latest quarter and gave an above-consensus outlook.

The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company attributed the strong results to chip maker investments driven by heavy demand for mobile devices.

For its fiscal first quarter ended in January, Applied Materials reported non-GAAP earnings of $240 million, or 18 cents a share, on sales of $2.19 billion, above the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for a profit of 12 cents a share on revenue of $1.97 billion.

The stock was last quoted at $13.98, up 5.8%, on volume of nearly 600,000, according to Nasdaq.com. Based on Thursday's regular-session close at $13.21, the shares are down more than 20% in the past year, although they have bounced 36% since scraping a 52-week low of $9.70 on Oct. 4.

"Global demand for mobile devices is driving a third consecutive year of strong capital investment by semiconductor customers," said Mike Splinter, the company's chairman and CEO, in a statement. "As a result, we see solid order momentum and an improved outlook overall for our second quarter."

Applied Materials forecast non-GAAP earnings of 20 to 28 cents a share in its fiscal second quarter ending in April with net revenue expected to increase between 5% and 15% on a sequential basis. Wall Street's current consensus view is for a profit of 15 cents a share.

The majority of the sell side was skeptical about Applied Materials ahead of the numbers with 14 of the 23 analysts covering the stock at either hold (12) or underperform (2), and the median 12-month price target sitting at $13.25.

Check out TheStreet's quote page for Applied Materials for year-to-date share performance, analyst ratings, earnings estimates and much more.

SunPower

SunPower(SPWR) was also a bright spot in the extended session after reporting a surprise profit in its fiscal fourth quarter.