Keysight continues to shine

Article Excerpt

KEYSIGHT TECHNOLOGIES INC. $176 is a buy for aggressive investors. The company (New York symbol KEYS; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 178.5 million; Market cap: $31.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.9; No dividend paid; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.keysight.com) makes an array of devices for testing electronic equipment. Keysight’s revenue in its fiscal 2022 fourth quarter, ended October 31, 2022, rose 11.5%, to $1.44 billion from $1.29 billion a year earlier, on rising demand from makers of computer chips, automobiles and high-speed telecommunications equipment. Earnings before unusual items gained 14.2%, to $386 million from $338 million; per-share earnings improved 17.6%, to $2.14 from $1.82 on fewer shares outstanding. The stock has soared nearly 500% since Agilent Technologies Inc. (New York symbol A) spun off the business as a separate firm in November 2014. Keysight now trades at 22.0 times projected fiscal 2023 earnings of $8.01 a share. You should note that the company spends a high 16% of its revenue on research, so…