NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Agilent Technologies reported after the close of the market Tuesday that its revenues for the first quarter grew 4 percent year over year.
For the three months ended Jan. 31, Agilent recorded $1.07 billion in revenues, up from $1.03 billion in Q1 2016 and beating the average Wall Street estimate of $1.05 billion.
"The Agilent team started 2017 with another strong quarter, despite currency headwinds," Agilent President and CEO Mike McMullen said in a statement. "Our strong revenue results were driven by a return to growth in our Chemical & Energy business and higher-than-expected China growth."
On a conference call following the release of results, McMullen added that growth was up 7 percent in the pharmaceutical end market and 8 percent in the clinical and diagnostics end market.
Revenues from the firm's Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group were up 3 percent at $540 million, driven by growth in pharma, food, and chemical energy.
Diagnostics and Genomics revenues were up 4 percent to $164 million, driven by Dako-branded products and nucleic acid solutions, the firm said. McMullen noted that Agilent successfully integrated Dako during the quarter and closed its acquisition of cancer diagnostics firm Multiplicom for €68 million ($70.6 million). Diagnostics and Genomics Group President Jacob Thaysen added that the Multiplicom purchase gives Agilent a strong offering for targeted tests needed for cancer testing.
The Agilent CrossLab Group posted revenues of $363 million, up 6 percent, with strong performance in both services and consumables, McMullen said.
On the call, Agilent CFO Didier Hirsch noted that currency translation negatively impacted revenue by approximately $12 million.
Agilent reported a net profit of $168 million, or $.52 per share, compared to a profit of $121 million, or $.36 per share, for Q1 2016. Its adjusted EPS was $.53, beating the average analysts' estimate of $.49.
Agilent's R&D spending ticked up 1 percent to $79 million from $78 million a year ago. Its SG&A spending fell 5 percent to $289 million from $304 million in Q1 2016.
Agilent ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $2.24 billion.
"Overall, we are confident in the company’s prospects, and we are raising our full-year core revenue growth expectations," McMullen said. For fiscal year 2017, the firm expects revenue of $4.33 billion to $4.35 billion and adjusted earnings of $2.10 to $2.16 per share. The firm also provided second quarter revenue guidance of $1.04 billion to $1.06 billion.