Scientific instruments maker Agilent Technologies Inc. (A) Friday reported a nine-fold rise in fourth-quarter profit, as revenue jumped 35% from last year and orders grew 32%. Adjusted earnings surpassed Wall Street estimates. Further, the company issued a robust outlook for the first quarter as well as full year.
The company's net income surged to $232 million or $0.66 per share from $25 million or $0.07 per share in the year-ago quarter. Results in both years included items such as business divestitures and restructuring charges. The latest results also included a tax benefit and a one-time gain from the closure of pre-Agilent spin-off income tax audits.
Adjusted net income rose to $228 million or $0.65 per share from $111 million or $0.32 per share in the previous year. On average, 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.60 per share in the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Net revenue rose to $1.576 billion from last year's $1.167 billion. Adjusted for the acquisition of Varian Inc. and recent divestitures, revenue grew 26% from last year. Analysts expected revenues of $1.52 billion for the quarter.
Agilent completed the divestiture of its Network Services business on May 1, and later completed its $1.5 billion acquisition of scientific-equipment maker Varian, Inc. on May 14.
Chemical Analysis revenues jumped 73% from last year, or 17% on an organic basis with applied markets reporting strong growth.
Life Sciences revenues jumped 35% and grew 17% on an organic basis. Academia and government markets, as well as pharmaceutical and biotech customers reported double-digit organic growth.
Orders improved 32% to $1.687 billion. Costs and expenses climbed 25% to $1.373 billion mainly due to higher costs for products and services.
In the third quarter, Agilent reported net income of $205 million or $0.58 per share on net revenue of $1.38 billion.
For the full-year, the company reported a profit of $624 million or $1.77 per share, compared to a loss of $31 million or $0.09 per share last year. Adjusted earnings were $706 million or $2 per share. Full-year net revenue advanced 21% to $5.444 billion. Street was looking for earnings of $1.96 per share on revenues of $5.40 billion.
Looking ahead, the company expects non-GAAP earnings of $0.55 to $0.57 per share for the first-quarter. Revenues are expected to be in the range of $1.53 billion to $1.55 billion. Wall Street looks for first-quarter earnings of $0.53 per share on revenues of $1.47 billion.
For fiscal 2011, Agilent expects non-GAAP earnings of $2.30 to $2.50 per share and revenues of $6.1 billion to $6.3 billion. Analysts expect earnings of $2.37 per share on revenues of $6.1 billion.
A closed Thursday at $35.73, up from the prior close of $35.26, on 3.79 million shares.
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