What Does Wall Street See for Agilent Technologies's Q3?

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Agilent Technologies (NYS: A) is expected to report Q3 earnings on Aug. 15. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

The 10-second takeaway
Comparing the upcoming quarter to the prior-year quarter, average analyst estimates predict Agilent Technologies' revenues will expand 5.7% and EPS will expand 7.8%.

The average estimate for revenue is $1.79 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.83.


Revenue details
Last quarter, Agilent Technologies recorded revenue of $1.73 billion. GAAP reported sales were 3.3% higher than the prior-year quarter's $1.68 billion.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
Last quarter, non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.78. GAAP EPS of $0.72 for Q2 were 29% higher than the prior-year quarter's $0.56 per share.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Recent performance
For the preceding quarter, gross margin was 53.0%, 70 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 17.3%, 140 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 14.7%, 280 basis points better than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
The full year's average estimate for revenue is $7.04 billion. The average EPS estimate is $3.24.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 512 members out of 580 rating the stock outperform, and 68 members rating it underperform. Among 120 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 111 give Agilent Technologies a green thumbs-up, and nine give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Agilent Technologies is buy, with an average price target of $51.62.

The article What Does Wall Street See for Agilent Technologies's Q3? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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