Agilent Technologies Stock Jumps As Earnings Top EstimatesKey Levels to Watch [Video]

Shares in Agilent Technologies (A) gained nearly 5% in Tuesday’s extended-hours trading session after the laboratory supplies maker topped analysts’ quarterly top- and bottom-line expectations, despite sales contracting from the prior year.

The Santa Clara, California-based company posted fiscal first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.29 on revenue of $1.66 billion. Wall Street had expected earnings of $1.22 on sales of $1.59 billion. Despite the top line coming in ahead of the consensus view, it fell 5.6% from a year earlier as growth in services and consumables was offset by conservative capital equipment spending across most of Agilent’s end markets. The company said ongoing sequential stabilization in China and secular growth drivers globally in applied markets underpinned the better-than-expected quarterly results.

Looking ahead to the fiscal second quarter, the company forecasts adjusted earnings to range between $1.17 and $1.20 a share, with the upper end of that band missing the Street estimateof $1.26. …