© Reuters. Agilent (A) sinks 9% after lowing full-year outlook; KeyBanc cuts on lack of catalysts
Agilent Technologies (NYSE:) shares are down over 9% in pre-market Wednesday after the life sciences company lowered its full-year outlook despite beating estimates for the second fiscal quarter.
Agilent posted FQ2 of $1.27 on revenue of $1.72 billion, beating the consensus for earnings of $1.26 on sales of $1.67B.
“In an increasingly challenging market environment, the Agilent team delivered solid results in the second quarter,” said Agilent President and CEO Mike McMullen. “Our results are driven by an innovative and broad portfolio, a differentiated customer experience, and outstanding execution.”
For this quarter, Agilent sees EPS at $1.37 on revenue in the range of $1.64-1.675B, missing the consensus for earnings of $1.43 on sales of $1.77B.
As a result, the company lowered its FY outlook for earnings to a range of $5.60-5.65 on revenue of $6.93-7.03B. Analysts were looking for FY EPS of 5.69 on sales of $7.09B.
Agilent had previously expected EPS of $5.65-5.70 on revenue of $7.03-7.1B.
KeyBanc analysts downgraded shares to Sector Weight as they would like to see a recovery in margins before being more positive on the stock again. Moreover, analysts flag “a lack of revenue catalysts in the back half.”
Citi analysts lowered the target to $130 per share from the prior $150 to reflect lowered guidance.
“While guidance was lowered, we note F4Q still assumes a significant sequential step up which we expect to be in focus for investors,” analysts said on the Neutral-rated Agilent shares.
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