Agilent Shares Rise More Than 4% After Company Reports Sales, EPS Above Forecast

Shares of Agilent Technologies Inc. rose more than 4% late Tuesday after the Santa Clara, Calif., company beat fiscal third-quarter earnings and sales expectations. Agilent said it earned $175 million, or 54 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $124 million, or 38 cents a share, a year ago. Adjusted for one-time items, the company earned 59 cents a share, compared with 49 cents a year ago. Sales reached $1.1 billion, compared with $1 billion in the corresponding 2016 quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected adjusted earnings of 52 cents a share on sales of $1.09 billion in the quarter. Agilent said it expects fourth-quarter 2017 revenue in the range of $1.15 billion to $1.17 billion, and fourth-quarter 2017 non-GAAP earnings in the range of 60 cents to 62 cents a share, which contrasts with expectations of adjusted per-share earnings of 60 cents a share on sales of $1.15 billion, according to the analysts surveyed by FactSet. The company forecast revenue of $4.43 billion to $4.45 billion and non-GAAP earnings of $2.29 a share to $2.31 a share for full fiscal year 2017, versus Wall Street expectations of adjusted per-share earnings of $2.23 on sales of $4.41 billion for the year, according to FactSet.