Agilent stock rallies after quarterly beat, guidance increase for company
Shares of Agilent Technologies Inc. rose more than 5% in the extended session Tuesday after the maker of lab instruments and other components reported fiscal third-quarter results above Wall Street expectations and raised guidance for the year. Agilent said it earned $329 million, or $1.10 a share, in the quarter, compared with $264 million, or 86 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, Agilent earned $1.34 a share. Revenue rose 8% to $1.72 billion, the company said. Analysts polled by FactSet expected adjusted EPS of $1.20 a share on sales of $1.64 billion. Agilent raised its revenue outlook for the full year to a range between $6.750 billion and $6.775 billion, which would represent growth between 6.8% and 7.2%. Orders are "continuing to outpace revenues," the company said in a statement. Agilent also raised full-year adjusted EPS expectations to between $5.06 and $5.08. For the fiscal fourth quarter, the company said it expects revenue between $1.750 billion and $1.775 billion, and non-GAAP EPS between $1.38 and $1.40. That compares with expectations of fourth-quarter revenue around $1.33 a share on revenue of about $1.77 billion, according to FactSet. Shares of Agilent ended the regular trading day down 0.8%.
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