Invitrogen's 4th-qtr EPS surges 78% to $0.82

USA-based Invitrogen's fourth-quarter 2007 earnings per share from continuing operations almost doubled on the comparable period last year to $0.82 from $0.46. Excluding amortization and integration costs, adjusted EPS rose to $1.05, ahead of the $1 per share predicted by analysts in a Thomson Financial survey.

During the period, the Carlsbad, California-based firm's revenue rose to $336.4 million from $301.6 million, driven mainly by sales in its BioDiscovery business. On the day of the results announcement, February 6, shares in the firm rose 5.9% to $88.33 in afternoon trading. The company's stock price was also buoyed by earlier news that it had settled a patent dispute with USA-based Agilent Technologies on several law suits pending for around eight years. According to the Associated Press, Agilent has agreed to make an undisclosed payment to Invitrogen and discontinue sales of the enzyme product RNase H minus RT.