Features

SAN JOSE — Test-and-measurement equipment maker Agilent Technologies Inc. will cut another 4,000 jobs despite meeting Wall Street’s expectations in its fiscal fourth quarter. 

The reductions are in addition to the 4,000 announced in August and are part of a continuing effort to cut costs amid the economic slump. The combined total represents 19 percent of the company’s work force. 

“These latest cost-cutting actions ... are intended to return Agilent to profitability sometime during our third fiscal quarter of 2002,” Ned Barnholt, Agilent’s chief executive, said Thursday. 

For the three months ended Oct. 31, Agilent earned $197 million, or 43 cents a share, compared with $305 million, or 66 cents a share, in the same period a year ago. 

The net earnings were boosted by a $1.1 billion pretax gain from the sale of Agilent’s health care business to Philips. 

Excluding one-time items, the company lost $275 million, or 60 cents a share, compared with a profit of $328 million, or 71 cents a share in the same period last year. 

Analysts were expecting a loss of 60 cents a share, according to a survey by Thomson Financial/First Call. 

Fourth-quarter revenues were down 47 percent, to $1.6 billion. In the same time last year, the company posted sales of $3 billion. 

The company, which was spun off from Hewlett-Packard Co. in 1999, released its results after the markets closed. 

For the year, Agilent earned $174 million, or 38 cents per share, compared with $757 million, or $1.68 per share last year. Fiscal 2001 revenue was $6.4 billion, compared with $10.6 billion last year. 

Agilent shares fell 28 cents, to $25.03, in Thursday trading on the New York Stock Exchange. They were unchanged after hours.