Agilent sees improvement in fourth quarter

<p>Agilent Technologies reported a slight profit in the fourth quarter Friday as Sonoma County’s largest high-tech employer began to recover from a year-long sales slump. </p><p>“Clearly, the worst is behind us,” said Ron Nersesian, president of Agilent’s Santa Rosa-based Electronic Measurement Group. Demand for measurement products grew 18 percent from the third quarter, the company said. </p><p>Overall, Agilent earned $25 million or 7 cents a share on fourth-quarter revenue of $1.17 billion, up 10 percent from the prior quarter, when the company lost $19 million. </p><p>Still, sales were down 21 percent from the same period a year ago, when Agilent posted a $231 million profit. The company’s fourth quarter ended Oct. 31. </p><p>Agilent was hit hard by the global financial meltdown that struck last fall. Orders for its test-and-measurement products fell by more than $1 billion as consumers stopped buying the latest cell phones, computers and other electronic gadgets. </p><p>For the full year, Agilent sales dropped 22 percent to $4.48 billion. </p><p>In January, Agilent cut employee pay by 10 percent to conserve cash. In April, it announced layoffs of 2,700 workers, including 300 in Santa Rosa. </p><p>Agilent restored full pay on Nov. 1, but most laid-off workers haven’t returned. It now has about 1,100 employees in Santa Rosa and is slowly starting to hire new workers. </p><p>“We’re hiring in selective areas,” Nersesian said. </p><p>While there are signs of improvement, many of Agilent’s markets remain depressed, company CEO Bill Sullivan said Friday.</p><p>“The pace of recovery is expected to be slow and to vary considerably by market and geography,” he said. </p><p>Meanwhile, Agilent has cut more than $500 million a year in operating expenses. </p><p>Agilent is the global leader in test equipment for cell phones, personal computers, laptops, networks and other applications. Over the past year, the wireless industry saw its first sales decline since cell phones were introduced, Sullivan said. </p><p>Smart phones have spurred some demand, but Agilent doesn’t see the wireless handset market returning until manufacturers come out with a new generation of phones in 2010 or 2011, he said. </p><p>Sales of Agilent test equipment for defense, aerospace, electronics manufacturing, computers and semiconductors fared better in the fourth quarter. </p><p>The Santa Rosa-based division rang up $582 million in revenues during the quarter, down 29 percent from last year but up 11 percent from the third quarter, while orders grew 18 percent sequentially. </p><p>The division, Agilent’s largest, reported a $41 million operating profit in the fourth quarter, compared to a $1 million loss for the prior quarter. </p><p>Agilent expects first-quarter revenue to be roughly unchanged from a year ago. The company’s results exceeded Wall Street forecasts, and Agilent shares rose 4.3 percent to close at $28.61 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.</p>