NEW YORK – Agilent Technologies reported after the close of the market on Tuesday that its fiscal second quarter revenues rose 5 percent year over year.
For the three months ended April 30, Agilent said its revenues rose to $1.61 billion from $1.53 billion in the year-ago period and beat the analysts' average estimate of $1.53 billion.
Its core revenues, which exclude the impact of currency and acquisitions and divestitures over the last 12 months, grew 7 percent year over year.
Revenues for the diagnostics and genomics group rose 14 percent to $358 million from $315 million in the year-ago quarter, while the life sciences and applied markets group saw revenues grow 2 percent to $896 million from $881 million. The Agilent CrossLab group grew revenues 7 percent year over year to $353 million from $329 million.
In the recently completed quarter, "we delivered core revenue growth in line with our forecast, expanded operating margins, and exceeded our expectations," Agilent President and CEO Mike McMullen said on a conference call to discuss the financial results. "We did this while navigating a dynamic macro environment, including the conflict in Ukraine and COVID-related lockdowns in China."
The lockdowns in China primarily affected its revenues in April, the company's CFO Bob McMahon said on the conference call.
"We estimate the lockdowns deferred $50 [million] to $55 million of revenue into future quarters," he said. "Our business in China was tracking very well with our expectations through late March when production and our main logistics hub in Shanghai were shut down and remained closed throughout April. We were able to partially reduce the impact of the lockdown by shifting production to other factories where possible and adjusting the shipping route into and out of China."
McMahon added that he expects the company will ramp up its operations in China and expects to see a modest recovery in Q3 from the Q2 lockdown-related revenue impact.
"We expect the majority of the recovery to occur in fiscal Q4 with some spillover into November and December, which is our first fiscal quarter of 2023," he noted.
In Q2, McMullen said, strong revenue growth posted by the diagnostics and genomics group was driven primarily by its nucleic acid solutions division, which "delivered yet another strong quarter generating record revenue and profitability."
For the recently completed quarter, Agilent's net income rose to $274 million, or $.91 per share, from a net income of $216 million, or $.70 per share, in Q2 2021. The firm reported adjusted EPS of $1.13, beating the analysts' average estimate of $1.06.
Agilent's Q2 R&D spending rose 6 percent year over year to $115 million from $109 million, while its SG&A spending fell 8 percent year over year to $386 million from $420 million.
The company ended the quarter with $1.19 billion in cash and cash equivalents and $21 million in short-term investments.
It continues to expect full-year 2022 revenues of $6.67 billion to $6.73 billion and adjusted its non-GAAP EPS outlook to between $4.86 and $4.93 from a previous range of between $4.80 and $4.90 announced in February.
For the third quarter, Agilent expects revenues of $1.625 billion to $1.65 billion and adjusted EPS of $1.20 to $1.22. The consensus Wall Street average estimates prior to the release of the financial results were for Q3 revenues of $1.56 billion and adjusted EPS of $1.12.