Agilent Technologies stock drops despite beating Q1 estimates

Agilent Technologies (A) stock dropped about 4% in the extended trading hours despite reporting upbeat Q1 results. The muted guidance sent the stock into negative territory. EPS stood at $0.76 on revenue of $1.28 billion. Shares of Agilent hit a new 52-week high ($78.80) in today’s regular trading session.

Analysts had expected the life sciences solutions company to earn $0.73 per share on revenue of $1.27 billion for the recently ended quarter. The Santa Clara, California-based firm had projected Q1 2019 revenue to be in the range of $1.265 billion to $1.280 billion and EPS to be in the range of $0.71 to $0.73.

GAAP EPS for the first quarter was $1.57 compared to a loss of $0.99 per share in the prior-year quarter. Revenue rose 6% and non-GAAP EPS rose 15% versus the year-ago quarter.

For the second quarter of 2019, Agilent projected EPS to be in the range of $0.70 to $0.72 and revenue to be in the range of $1.255 billion to $1.270 billion.

For FY19, the company lifted the outlook. EPS is now expected to be in the range of $3.03 to $3.07 versus the prior estimate of $3.00 to $3.05. Revenue is now expected to be in the range of $5.15 billion to $5.19 billion compared to the prior estimate of $5.13 billion to $5.17 billion.

“We are pleased to start the year with a strong performance driving excellent revenue and EPS growth and exceeding our guidance,” said CEO Mike McMullen.

Revenue from Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group grew 2%, aided by demand in the pharma, environmental and forensics markets. Agilent CrossLab Group revenue grew 8% year-over-year with strong revenue performance from services and consumables. 13% revenue growth in Diagnostics and Genomics Group was led by demand in NASD, low double-digit growth in pathology related businesses and NGS workflow portfolio.

Agilent stock had gained about 16% in the last 90 days and year-to-date periods.

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