By Maria Armental
Agilent Technologies Inc.'s (A) fiscal third-quarter profit fell
12% as the testing-equipment company reported higher expenses
related to the planned spinoff of its electronic-measurement
business.
Still, the company beat the high-end of its forecast and
reported continued improvement as orders continued to grow across
segments.
Agilent revised its fiscal-year forecast to an expected adjusted
per-share profit of $3.04 to $3.08 with revenue of $6.99 billion to
$7.03 billion, up from its previous forecast of $2.96 to $3.16 and
revenue between $6.9 billion and $7.1 billion.
For the current fiscal quarter, Agilent projected adjusted
per-share earnings of 87 cents to 91 cents and revenue of $1.81
billion to $1.85 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters
expected per-share profit of 94 cents and revenue of $1.83
billion.
Agilent, which was spun off from Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) in
1999, announced plans in September to spin off its
electronic-measurement business as a separate publicly traded
company, Keysight Technologies Inc. Keysight Technologies began
operating as a wholly owned subsidiary on Aug. 1 and is expected to
formally separate in early November.
The electronic-measurement business had been hurt by weak demand
in recent quarters. In the latest quarter, however, the segment's
revenue rose 8% as orders increased 7% year over year.
The remaining businesses--focused on life sciences and
diagnostic equipment--will retain the Agilent name. In the fiscal
second quarter, the new Agilent revenue rose 6%, led by growth in
environmental, forensics, pharma and clinical/diagnostics, the
company said. Orders rose 10% year over year.
For the period ended July 31, Agilent reported a profit of $147
million, or 43 cents a share a share, down from $168 million, or 49
cents, a year earlier. Excluding spinoff-related expenses and other
items, adjusted earnings rose to 78 cents from 68 cents a year
earlier.
Revenue rose 7% to $1.77 billion, while orders rose 9% to $1.74
billion from a year earlier.
Shares edged up to $55.70 in recent after-hours trading.
Through Thursday's closing, the company's stock was down nearly
3% for the year.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
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