Applied Materials (Nasdaq: AMAT) shares are ripping in after-hours trading Thursday following a first-quarter earnings beat and strong guidance. Shares are up about 5.5 percent.

Revenue for the chip maker fell 18.6 percent from $2.69 billion during 2011's first quarter to $2.19 billion. Despite the dip, revs beat estimates calling for $1.97 billion.

GAAP net income fell 77 percent to $117 million, or 9 cents per share. Excluding certain one-time items, earnings were 18 cents per share, beating out Street views of 12 cents per share.

Seeing gains in the quarter was Applied's Silicon Systems Group, with revs up 26 percent sequentially to $1.34 billion. Conversely, Energy and Environmental Solutions sales dropped 34 percent to $207 million.

"Global demand for mobile devices is driving a third consecutive year of strong capital investment by semiconductor customers,” commented CEO Mike Splinter. "As a result, we see solid order momentum and an improved outlook overall for our second quarter."

Looking ahead, Applied sees second-quarter 2012 sales up 5 percent to 15 percent from the first-quarter numbers, indicating a range of $2.3 billion to $2.52 billion. Non-GAAP EPS is expected to be 20 cents to 28 cents. The Street is looking for revs of $2.08 billion and earnings of 16 cents per share.

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