Topic: Growth Stocks

Agilent Technologies Inc. $37 – New York symbol A

AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $37 (New York symbol A; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 360.0 million; Market cap: $13.3 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) was a subsidiary of Hewlett-Packard Co. (see page 51) until June 2000. Hewlett stockholders received 0.3814 of an Agilent share for each Hewlett share held.

Agilent’s testing systems help manufacturers improve the quality of electronic products such as cellphones. The stock rose rapidly to $162 a share in March 2000, but fell to $10.50 in 2002. It has stayed between $20 and $40 for the past three years.

In its second fiscal quarter ended April 30, 2008, earnings excluding unusual items rose 6.3%, to $187 million from $176 million a year earlier. However, per-share earnings grew 18.6%, to $0.51 from $0.43, due to Agilent’s aggressive share buybacks. Revenue rose 15.4%, to $1.5 billion from $1.3 billion.

The stock trades at 18.5 times Agilent’s likely fiscal 2008 earnings of $2.00 a share. That’s reasonable when you consider it spends around 12% of its revenue of $14.70 a share on research. Agilent is also expanding sales of test equipment to medical labs and drug developers. That helps cut its exposure to the cyclical electronics industry.

Agilent is a buy.

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