NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Agilent Technologies reported after the close of the market Tuesday that its revenues for the first quarter were flat year over year.
For the three months ended Jan. 31, Agilent recorded $1.03 billion in revenues, beating the average Wall Street estimate of $1.02 billion.
"Agilent delivered a strong start to the year," Agilent President and CEO Mike McMullen said in a statement. "Revenue and earnings per share exceeded our guidance range, reflecting the strength of Agilent's products, services, and relationships with customers in our markets."
On a conference call following the release of results, Agilent officials commented that the pharma end market and Chinese geographic market showed particularly strong demand.
Revenue from pharma increased 19 percent year over year, said Patrick Kaltenbach, president of the Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group. He added that the firm saw revenue growth among small, medium, and large pharmaceutical customers as well as with both small molecule and biopharma companies, and that Agilent expects to see high single-digit growth in that end market down the line. McMullen added that the Diagnostics and Genomics Group was "underpenetrated" in China, compared to the rest of the company.
Revenues from the academia and government end market also increased 4 percent compared to a year ago, driven by larger research budgets in the US. Officials said the integration of recently acquired Seahorse Bioscience was "in full swing" and going well.
Revenues from the firm's Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group were down 4 percent at $526 million from $547 million in the prior-year period. Diagnostics and Genomics revenues were up 7 percent to $158 million from $148 million in Q1 2014.
President of Agilent's Diagnostics and Genomics Group Jacob Thaysen noted that in the quarter the US Food and Drug Administration expanded the indication for the firm's PD-1 companion diagnostic.
The Agilent CrossLab Group posted revenues of $344 million, up 4 percent from $331 million in the year-ago period.
Agilent officials said that the increase in CrossLab revenues was "highly connected" to increased demand from the pharma end market.
Agilent reported a net profit of $123 million, or $.37 per share, compared to a profit of $63 million, or $.19 per share, for Q1 2015. Its adjusted EPS was $.46, beating the average analysts' estimate of $.43.
Agilent's R&D spending fell 11 percent to $78 million from $88 million a year ago. Its SG&A spending fell 2 percent to $304 million from $310 million in Q1 2014.
Agilent ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $1.93 billion.
For FY 2016, the firm reiterated core revenue growth guidance of between 4 percent and 5 percent. However, due to the strengthening of the US dollar, the firm expects a negative impact on profit. It revised its full-year revenue guidance for between $4.10 billion and $4.12 billion and non-GAAP earnings between $1.81 and $1.87 per share.
Agilent officials also said the firm was committed to repurchasing $280 million worth of shares, with share repurchasing divided evenly among the three remaining quarters of 2016.
In Wednesday morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of Agilent were up a fraction of 1 percent at $37.10.