applied materials inc amat on thursday reported fiscal firstquarter earnings that topped wall street views citing a growing services business applied materials earned 172 billion or 202 a share in the quarter compared with 179 billion or 2 a share in the yearago period adjusted for onetime items the chip tools maker earned 203 a share revenue rose 7 to 674 billion analysts polled by factset expected the company to report adjusted eps of 193 on sales of 669 billion applied materials said both the “economy and semiconductor industry are facing challenges” this year but that it believes it will outperform its markets this year that “resilience is underpinned by our strong positions with leading customers at key technology inflections large backlog of differentiated products and growing service business” chief executive gary dickerson said in a statement the company guided for fiscal secondquarter sales of about 640 billion plus or minus 400 million which includes ongoing supplychain “challenges” and a loss of around 250 million related to a supplier’s cybersecurity problem recently announced it called for adjusted eps between 166 and 202 for the quarter factset consensus calls for adjusted eps of 176 on sales of 629 billion for the fiscal first quarter