Agilent Misses the Mark

Agilent A missed fourth-quarter targets but guided in line for the first quarter.

The Santa Clara, Calif., tech measurement outfit made $132 million, or 32 cents a share, from continuing operations for the fourth quarter ended Oct. 31, reversing the year-ago continuing operations loss of $22 million, or 4 cents a share. On an adjusted basis, excluding certain items, earnings rose to 46 cents a share from 29 cents a year earlier. Including the spun-off Verigy operation, Agilent made 52 cents a share.

Revenue rose 6% from a year ago to $1.33 billion, and orders rose 7% to $1.4 billion.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were looking for a 54-cent profit on sales of $1.53 billion.

"The distribution of Verigy shares to our owners completes a transformative year for Agilent," said CEO Bill Sullivan. "As a pure-play measurement company, we finished fiscal 2006 with strong operating results and good momentum."

The company said it expects to make 36 to 40 cents a share for the fiscal first quarter on revenue of $1.25 billion to $1.29 billion. Analysts were looking for a 39-cent profit on sales of $1.26 billion.