UPDATE: Citigroup Reiterates on Agilent Technologies on Game Winning Drive

In a report published Friday, Citigroup analyst Amit Bhalla reiterated a Buy rating on Agilent Technologies A, and raised the price target from $53.00 to $59.00. In the report, Citigroup noted, “This was a positive quarter for Agilent as questions over Electronic Measurement (EMG) performance and the impact from the gov't shutdown did not turn out to present significant challenges to performance. In addition, F2014 guidance met expectations and the company's spin-off is on track for early Nov. 2014. While total company core revs were down -1% (as expected), core orders were up +6% with book to bill ratios of 1.07 in LDA and 1.05 in EMG. Cost controls as well as new products in each of the businesses should allow for a continuation of current business trends through F2014 and as such, we reiterate our Buy.” Agilent Technologies closed on Thursday at $50.54.