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Local Agilent division sees bump in orders
Published: Friday, February 12, 2010 at 10:27 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, February 12, 2010 at 10:34 a.m.
Agilent Technologies saw orders rise 8 percent for its Santa Rosa-based electronic measurement business last quarter, with a rebound in the market for computer chips, the company said Friday.
“That market has turned up, and we’re capturing some of it,” said Ron Nersesian, who heads the measurement group.
It was the first yearly increase in orders since early 2008.
Still, the group’s revenue fell to $629 million in first quarter, down 2 percent from a year ago, because of a weak market for cell phone test equipment.
Companywide, Santa Clara-based Agilent posted sales of $1.21 billion for the quarter ended Jan. 31, up 4 percent from last year. Earnings of $79 million or 22 cents a share were 23 percent above the year-ago quarter.
The company, Sonoma County’s largest tech employer with 1,100 workers in Santa Rosa, is forecasting a 10 percent increase in annual sales this year.
“We have good momentum going into the second quarter and the rest of the year,” Nersesian said.
The world’s largest maker of test and measurement technology was hit hard by the recession last year, with a 22 percent decline in sales as consumers stopped buying the latest electronics. Agilent laid off 2,700 workers companywide, including 300 in Santa Rosa.
But the market improved in last year’s fourth quarter, when Agilent reported a slight profit.
That trend continued in the first quarter, with stronger demand from industrial, computer and semiconductor customers. Aerospace and defense markets also saw an increase, Nersesian said.
Those gains were offset by a 23 percent drop in revenue from Agilent’s communications business, which includes cell phone test gear.
The Santa Rosa business posted operating profit of $58 million in the first quarter, due largely to cost-cutting.
On Thursday, Agilent announced the sale of its network solutions unit — part of the measurement group — to JDSU for $165 million in cash. The unit makes test technology for next-generation wireless networks, called Long Term Evolution or 4G.
On Friday, Agilent executives said the sale will have little impact on future results, because the unit represents less than 7 percent of the measurement group’s revenue.
Agilent will still have a large presence in the market for LTE and 4G technology, Nersesian said, with more than 15 test and measurement products in the space. Agilent was the world leader in 2008 for LTE and WiMAX test equipment, according to Frost & Sullivan, a research and consulting firm.
Agilent shares closed Friday at $29.98 on the New York Stock Exchange, up 2 percent from Thursday.
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