Applied Materials: Solar Segment Will Break Even in 2010
Applied Materials Inc., (AMAT), officials say that their solar business will break even in 2010 but plan layoffs of 1,300-1,500 jobs, or 12 percent of the workforce in the next 18 months.
The semiconductor-equipment and PV solar panel maker reported a fourth quarter profit of $138 million, or 10 cents per share, on net sales of $1.53 billion.
New orders in Applied Materials’ Energy and Environmental business were up significantly from Q3 to $357 million in Q4 but still off 27 percent from Q4 2008.
Operating loss in the segment spiked to $242 million for FY2009 from $183 million in FY 2008. The company expects to save $450 million when the restructuring is complete.
Chief Executive Officer Mike Splinter said during the conference call:
“I would say we haven’t recovered yet. We still have a fragile global economy. We have a customer base that has consolidated substantially.”
Splinter said the 2010 outlook is difficult to predict.
The solar market has improved as demand in Germany has picked up, but with the coalition government threatening cuts to already tariffs that are already scheduled to decrease in 2010, that market could dry up.
The company recently bought Advent Solar, analysts say for a song, and executives hope that it will drive down the cost per watt of technology. But the company doesn’t expect to finish developing the technology until 2011.
