Prudential cut its estimates on Applied Materials (AMAT

).

Analyst Shekhar Pramanick says April quarter orders were extremely guarded, and the company did not quantify its forward order guidance other than say that orders for the second quarter would be higher than the first quarter's $1.02 billion. Pramanick thinks forward quarter revenues are tied closely to orders; given the lackluster order guidance, revenues could be muted over the next couple of quarters.

He says near term, Applied Materials could underperform its leading front end semiconductor equipment peers. He cut the 12 cents fiscal 2003 (Oct.) earnings per share estimate to nine cents, and has a $14 target.