Earnings Preview: Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies (A) is expected to report Q1 earnings Wednesday with a conference call scheduled for 4:30 pm ET.

Guidance

The consensus estimate is 41c for EPS and revenue $1.38B, according to First Call. Most analysts expect Q1 results to be in-line with street consensus expectations. Guidance is also expected to be essentially in-line with the street consensus for Q2 of 53c/ $1.43B.

Key conference call issues: Guidance, additional details on the three patents that were settled with Invitrogen, and any information on the amount of the company's payment to Invitrogen, overview of competition, a possible resumption of Agilent's buyback program, and comments on the economy and spending.