New products lift Agilent sales

Article Excerpt

AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $71 (New York symbol A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 323.0 million; Market cap: $22.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.0; Dividend yield: 0.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.agilent. com) makes specialized testing equipment, like mass spectrometers, for medical research laboratories and industrial clients. Thanks to recent acquisitions and the launch of new products, the company earned $216 million for the fiscal 2018 first quarter, ended January 31, 2018. That’s up 25.6% from $172 million a year earlier. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share increased 24.5%, to $0.66 from $0.53. Revenue rose 13.5%, to $1.21 billion from $1.07 billion. Factoring out new businesses and exchange rates, revenue improved 9.9%. Agilent is a buy. buy…