Agilent Technologies Inc (NYSE: A) in the second quarter of FY 17 has posted better than expected results and has raised the full-year outlook, as demand for its products and services remains robust. A saw a strong pick up in the Chemical and Energy business after modest gains in the last quarter, and strong growth in Pharma and Europe has also contributed to the upside.

Agilent in the second quarter of FY 17 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $0.58, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $0.48. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 8.1 percent to $1.1 billion in the second quarter of FY 17, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $1.05 billion.

Moreover, the second-quarter revenue of $523 million from Agilent’s Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group (LSAG) grew 6 percent year over year (up 6 percent on a core basis(2)), with double-digit growth in chemical and energy, pharma and environmental markets. The second-quarter revenue of $378 million from Agilent CrossLab Group (ACG) has increased 9 percent year over year (up 10 percent on a core basis(2)). Both services and consumables continued to see solid growth across all geographies. Further, Agilent Technologies second-quarter revenue of $201 million from Agilent’s Diagnostics and Genomics Group (DGG) grew 13 percent year over year (up 13 percent on a core basis(2)) led by pharma and diagnostic and clinical end-markets.

For the third quarter of FY 17, Agilent expects the earnings per share to be in the range of $0.49 to $0.51, worse than the $0.53 that the analysts are looking for. However, A expects in Q3, the revenue to be in the range of $1.06 to $1.08 billion, which is in-line with the analysts’ $1.08 billion view.

For the full year FY 17, Agilent Technologies has lifted its earnings per share guidance, and expects it to be in a range of $2.15 to $2.21, up from a prior $2.10 to $2.16, and is in-line with the analysts’ consensus estimate of $2.16. 2017 revenues are now expected to be between $4.36 and $4.38 billion, slightly ahead of analysts’ $4.35 billion view

Agilent stock has risen 4.9% today (as of 10:53AM EDT on May 23rd, 2017; Source: Google Finance). According to tipranks.com, 2 analysts has covered the stock while recommend a “Moderate Buy”. Agilent has an average price target of $60.50.