Agilent Technologies Inc. (A) reported net income for the second quarter of $166 million or $0.48 per share, compared to $255 million or $0.72 per share for the year-ago quarter.
Excluding items, adjusted net income for the latest quarter was $269 million or $0.77 per share.
Revenues for the second quarter were $1.732 billion, compared with $1.733 billion in the same quarter last year.
On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company toe earn $0.67 per share on revenue of $1.74 billion for the second quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Looking forward to the third quarter, the company expects adjusted earnings to be in the range of $0.60 to $0.64 per share and revenues in the range of $1.63 billion to $1.66 billion. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $0.74 per share on revenue of $1.75 billion for the third quarter.
For the full fiscal year 2013, Agilent now expects adjusted earnings to be in the range of $2.70 to $2.85 per share and revenues in the range of $6.75 billion to $6.85 billion. Previously, the company forecast adjusted earnings of $2.70 to $3.00 per share and revenue of $6.9 billion to $7.1 billion.
Analysts currently expect the company to earn $2.88 per share on revenue of $7.00 billion for the fiscal year 2013.
Agilent also announced that its board of directors has authorized an increase of $500 million to its existing stock repurchase program. Under the increased program, the company is authorized to repurchase up to $1 billion of its common stock, inclusive of amounts repurchased since Nov. 1, 2012. Agilent expects the program to be completed by the end of calendar year 2013.
During the first quarter of 2013, Agilent purchased 2 million shares of common stock, and in the second quarter, 3.3 million shares were purchased. Under the increased program, approximately $781 million of stock remains to be repurchased, the company said.
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