Applied Materials Feels Flat-Panel Slowdown

Updated from 4:29 p.m. EST

Applied Materials'(AMAT Quote) profit surged 81% in its fiscal fourth quarter, but the results came up short of Wall Street expectations.

And in a subsequent conference the call with analysts, the world's No. 1 vendor of chipmaking equipment said its fiscal 2007 year would get off to a slow start.

CFO George Davis singled out flat-panel-display manufacturing as the prime culprit for the slowdown. According to Davis, orders from flat-panel makers will decline $200 million sequentially in the fiscal first quarter. ...