Agilent Q4 Profit Beats Views

reported better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter on Monday. The Santa Clara, California-based company posted quarterly income from continuing operations of $140 million, or $0.42 per share, versus a year-ago loss from continuing operations of $26 million, or $0.08 per share. Excluding one-time items, Agilent earned $0.50 per share. Its revenue declined 1 percent year-over-year to $1.04 billion. However, analysts were projecting earnings of $0.47 per share on sales of $1.04 billion. The average estimate among 34 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.48 per share and revenue of $1.04 billion. Its revenue from Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group declined 4 percent year-over-year to $515 million, while revenue from the Agilent CrossLab Group gained 3 percent to $342 million. Revenue from Agilent's Diagnostics and Genomics Group jumped 4 percent to $178 million. "Agilent delivered a strong quarter to end a strong year," said Mike McMullen, Agilent president and CEO. "Our fourth-quarter revenue was up 6 percent on a core basis(3), and earnings per share were above our guidance range." For the first quarter, Agilent projects adjusted earnings of $0.42 to $0.44 per share on revenue of $1 billion to $1.02 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $0.47 per share on revenue of $1.05 billion. For fiscal year 2016, the company projects adjusted earnings of $1.85 to $1.91 per share on revenue of $4.15 billion to $4.17 billion. Analysts expected earnings of $1.97 per share on revenue of $4.21 billion. Agilent shares rose 0.05 percent to $37.35 in the after-hours trading session.