Agilent lowers annual revenue forecast on soft demand for medical equipment

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(Reuters) – Medical equipment maker Agilent lowered its annual revenue forecast on Wednesday, as it expects soft demand for its medical tools and equipment from smaller biotech companies.

Shares of the company were down 4% at $129.01 in after-hours trading.

Medical equipment makers such as Agilent are seeing a decline in demand from early-stage biotech companies, who remain cautious about investing despite an improving funding environment.

The company now expects annual revenue in the range of $6.68 billion to $6.76 billion, compared to its prior forecast of $6.79 billion to $6.87 billion. Analysts, on average, were expecting $6.83 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

In November, the company said that it would restructure its business into three segments — the life sciences and diagnostics markets group, applied markets group and Agilent CrossLab group with the aim of becoming “a nimbler company”.

The company beat profit estimates for the first quarter ended January 31, and reported an adjusted profit of $1.31 per share, compared to estimates of $1.27 per share.

The California-based company reported first-quarter revenue of $1.68 billion, slightly above analysts’ estimates of $1.67 billion.

The company maintained its annual adjusted profit forecast of $5.54 to $5.61 per share.

Agilent had said in November that it expects a continued recovery in biotech demand throughout the year, following a trend it had observed in recent quarters.

(Reporting by Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)