Savvy acquisition spurs big gain

Article Excerpt

KEYSIGHT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $65 (New York symbol KEYS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 187.4 million; Market cap: $12.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.3; No dividends paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.keysight. com) makes devices for testing electronic equipment. The stock has soared 85% since the company’s April 2017 purchase of California-based Ixia. Keysight paid $1.6 billion for that firm, which makes software to test wireless and computer networks. Thanks to those new operations, overall revenue for the fiscal 2018 third quarter, ended July 31, 2018, jumped 20.7%, to $1.0 billion from $832 million a year earlier. If you exclude businesses that the company bought and sold in the past year, revenue rose 15.3%. Earnings in the quarter gained 47.8%, to $170 million from $115 million. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share rose at a slower rate of 45.9%, to $0.89 from $0.61. Keysight is still a hold. hold…