NEW YORK(GenomeWeb) – Agilent Technologies reported after the close of the market on Monday that its fiscal second quarter revenues were down almost 3 percent year over year.
For the three months ended April 30, the firm reported $963 million in revenues, down from $988 million in Q2 2014, and missing the average analysts' estimate of $983.9 million. Excluding currency effects, revenues were up 4 percent year over year, Agilent said.
On a conference call following the release of Agilent's financial results, CEO Mike McMullen added that excluding results from the recently divested NRM and X-ray diffraction businesses, core revenues were up 5 percent year over year.
Also, issues around the company's new America's logistics center resulted in about $30 million in revenues being delayed until fiscal Q3. The shipping issues were related to the transfer of the firm's US distribution center, and "have now been stabilized and they will be fixed this quarter," Agilent CFO Didier Hirsch said on the call.
Orders for the quarter rose almost 1 percent year over year to $1.04 billion from $1.03 billion.
By segment, the Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group posted $473 million in revenues, down from $495 million in Q2 2014, while the Diagnostics and Genomics Group saw revenues inch up to $169 million from $168 million. The Agilent CrossLab Group saw revenues narrow to $321 million from $325 million.
McMullen said in February when Agilent released its fiscal Q1 financial results that the firm launched a restructuring program and a multiyear "Agile Agilent" program aimed at "reengineering our company to be more nimble, efficient, and customer-focused." He said on Monday that the firm has achieved about $24 million of the $50 million in savings that it anticipates from the combined initiatives.
Agilent had a profit of $83 million, or $.25 per share, in the recently completed quarter compared to a profit of $139 million, or $.41 per share, a year ago. On an adjusted basis, EPS was $.38, just short of the consensus Wall Street estimate of $.39 a share.
Agilent's R&D spending narrowed 7 percent year over year to $81 million from $87 million, and its SG&A costs were down 4 percent to $292 million from $304 million.
The firm also said that it had $38 million in intangible amortization during Q2 2015, as well as business exit and divestiture costs of $10 million, transformation costs of $17 million, and a tax benefit of $24 million.
For its fiscal third quarter, the firm is guiding to revenues of between $995 million and $1.015 billion with non-GAAP EPS of $.38 to $.42.
Revenue guidance for full-year 2015 is estimated to be between $4.05 billion and $4.11 billion, with non-GAAP EPS of $1.67 to $1.73.
In February, the firm provided revenue guidance of between $4.06 billion and $4.12 billion. The new guidance range reflects a negative impact of $10 million from currency effects, Didier said. The EPS guidance was unchanged.