Agilent Technologies Reports Decline in Q2 Profit

Agilent Technologies A released its fiscal second-quarter earnings results on Tuesday after the closing bell. The company reported adjusted net income that was above analysts' consensus estimates, but revenues that missed expectations. In late trading, Agilent shares were up a little better than 1 percent to $44.51 in the wake of the quarterly report. During regular trading hours, the stock notched a gain of better than 2 percent to close at $43.97. In addition to releasing its fiscal Q2 results, Agilent also provided updated guidance for the third-quarter and lowered its fiscal 2013 revenue outlook and the top end of its earnings range for the full-year. The company also announced that its board had authorized the increase of its stock buyback program by $500 million to $1 billion. Agilent also said that it has begun a restructuring program aimed at cutting annual operating expenses by around $50 million. The restructuring is expected to reduce the company's global workforce by about 2 percent. For the third-quarter, Agilent guided for adjusted EPS of $0.60 to $0.64 on revenue of $1.63 billion to $1.66 billion. This is below current Wall Street consensus estimates calling for a profit of $0.74 per share and revenue of $1.75 billion for the third-quarter. For the full-year, the company lowered its revenue guidance to a range of $6.75 billion to $6.85 billion compared to its previous outlook of $6.9 billion to $7.1 billion. Adjusted earnings per share is now expected to be between $2.70 and $2.85 compared to Agilent's earlier EPS guidance of $2.70 to $3.00 for the fiscal year. Currently, Wall Street is modeling full-year EPS of $2.88 on sales of $7.00 billion for fiscal 2013. Agilent CEO Bill Sullivan said, "We were pleased to have exceeded EPS guidance for the quarter, reflecting our focus on cost control and profitability in the face of the worldwide economic slowdown and the impact of U.S. sequestration. We expect the macroeconomic environment to remain challenging throughout the second half of 2013 and are taking additional actions to strengthen our operating performance." Second-quarter earnings at Agilent were $166 million or $0.48 per share compared to $255 million or $0.72 per share, in the year ago period. On an adjusted basis, net income was $269 million or $0.77 per share, versus $275 million or $0.78 per share, last year. This easily topped analysts' consensus EPS estimates of $0.67. Revenue in the quarter was unchanged from last year's fiscal second-quarter at $1.73 billion. This came in slightly below of Wall Street consensus sales estimates of $1.74 billion. Year-to-date, Agilent shares have added a little better than 7 percent, under-performing the broader stock market.