CALIFORNIA: Agilent Technologies Inc. A, +1.52% issued guidance below analysts’ expectations as the testing-equipment company reported that revenue fell 0.8% in the latest quarter.
Shares fell 1.7% to $36.70 in recent after-hours trading as revenue came in at the lower end of estimates.
Revenue edged lower, to $1.035 billion from $1.043 billion a year earlier. The Santa Clara, Calif., company had expected revenue of $1.03 billion to $1.05 billion. However, core revenue–which excludes currency impacts, acquisitions and divestitures–rose 6%.
For the fiscal year ending in October 2016, Agilent forecasted per-share earnings of $1.85 to $1.91 and revenue of $4.15 billion to $4.17 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected per-share profit of $1.97 and revenue of $4.2 billion.
For the current quarter, the company projected per-share earnings of 42 cents to 44 cents and revenue of $1 billion to $1.02 billion. Analysts expected per-share profit of 46 cents and revenue of $1.05 billion.
Agilent, which was spun off from Hewlett-Packard Co. in 1999, split off its electronic-measurement business as a separate public company, Keysight Technologies Inc., in November 2014. Agilent retained its life sciences, diagnostic equipment and applied chemical operations.
Agilent recently completed its $235 million acquisition of Seahorse Bioscience, in a deal that expanded Agilent’s offerings for the pharmaceutical sector.
For the period ended Oct. 31, Agilent reported a profit of $140 million, or 42 cents a share, up from $23 million, or seven cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding tax benefits, year-earlier business exit and divestiture costs and other items, per-share earnings from continuing operations rose to 50 cents from 48 cents. The company expected per-share profit of 45 cents to 49 cents.
