Agilent Technologies Earnings: Second Straight Quarter of Rising Net Income

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A) reported its results for the second quarter. Agilent Technologies is focused on the design and manufacturing of core bio-analytical and electronic measurement solutions. It serves customers in sectors such as communications, electronics, life sciences, and chemical analysis.

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Agilent Technologies Earnings Cheat Sheet for the Second Quarter

Results: Net income for Agilent Technologies Inc. rose to $255 million (72 cents per share) vs. $200 million (56 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 27.5% from the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 3.3% to $1.73 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Agilent Technologies Inc. fell short of the mean analyst estimate of 73 cents per share. Analysts were expecting revenue of $1.71 billion.

Quoting Management: Bill Sullivan, Agilent president and CEO, said, “Our second-quarter performance demonstrated our ability to deliver strong results despite a challenging economic climate.”

Key Stats:

Gross margin shrank 0.7 percentage point to 53%. The contraction appeared to be driven by increased costs, which rose 4.9% from the year earlier quarter while revenue rose 3.3%.

Revenue has increased for four consecutive quarters. Revenue increased 7.6% to $1.64 billion in the first quarter. The figure rose 9.6% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year from the year earlier and climbed 22.2% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year from the year-ago quarter.

The company fell short of estimates last quarter after being in line with expectations the quarter before with net income of 69 cents.

Net income has increased 38.4% year-over-year on average across the last five quarters. The biggest gain came in the second quarter of the last fiscal year, when income climbed 85.2% from the year-earlier quarter.

Looking Forward: Analysts appear increasingly optimistic about the company’s results for the next quarter. The average estimate for the third quarter has moved up from 82 cents a share to 84 cents over the last ninety days. For the fiscal year, the average estimate has been unchanged at $3.19 a share.

(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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