Company Reports

Wide-moat Agilent Technologies delivered fiscal first-quarter results that were better than management's targets. However, it merely maintained its outlook for fiscal 2024. Our view for 2024 remains slightly more optimistic on the top line and at the high end of the bottom line compared with management's target ranges. At first glance, we do not anticipate changing our $151 fair value estimate. The shares appear to be rising closer to our fair value estimate in after-hours trading on these strong quarterly results.

Wide-moat Agilent delivered fourth-quarter results that were better than management's targets but reflected weakness in the typically robust biopharma end market in China. Management expects those challenges to continue but not deteriorate further in fiscal 2024, and its initial outlook for revenue and adjusted EPS looks moderately below our previous view. At first glance, we do not anticipate changing our $151 fair value estimate, though, considering much higher than expected cash flows recently. Also, Agilent's long-term prospects remain intact, and Agilent shares continue to look moderately undervalued to us.

Wide-moat Agilent delivered third-quarter results that were slightly better than expected, but they reflected weakness in the typically robust biopharma end market, which looks likely to continue especially in China and caused management to reduce its 2023 guidance for sales and adjusted EPS. While we have tinkered with our near-term assumptions slightly after this announcement, those changes did not change our $151 fair value estimate, especially considering that management also raised the key driver of our valuation—free cash flow—materially for 2023. Overall, we think Agilent's long-term prospects remain intact, and Agilent shares continue to represent a growth at a reasonable price opportunity.

Life science toolmakers that enable drug production operate attractive businesses for two major reasons that investors often find compelling. First, regulation of the drug manufacturing process creates highly durable switching costs for end users and long potential revenue streams for life science toolmakers. Second, life science firms often benefit from broad exposure to biopharmaceutical growth without taking on much product-specific risk.

After Agilent was spun out from Hewlett Packard in 1999 and divested its electronic measurement business (Keysight Technologies) in November 2014, Agilent focuses on providing tools to analyze the structural properties of various chemicals, molecules, and cells. Agilent is one of the leading providers of chromatography and mass spectrometry tools, which have applications in a variety of end markets, including the healthcare, chemical, food, and environmental fields. While healthcare-related applications, including clinical diagnostics, remain Agilent’s largest end market, Agilent generates about half of its sales from nonhealthcare fields.

Wide-moat Agilent released second-quarter results that were slightly above expectations, but given ongoing biopharma market uncertainty, management reduced some parts of its 2023 guidance a bit. While we may tinker with our some of our near-term assumptions slightly after this announcement, importantly, management kept guidance intact for the key driver of our $127 fair value estimate—cash flows. Overall, we think Agilent's long-term prospects remain intact, too, and with Agilent shares trading near our current fair value estimate, shares appear to represent a growth at a reasonable price opportunity.

Wide-moat Agilent released first-quarter results that pushed its bottom-line results up toward our expectations for 2023. Management has raised its 2023 guidance mildly, although our adjusted EPS forecast remains above the current projected range. While we have tinkered with our near-term assumptions after this announcement, our $127 fair value estimate has not changed materially.

Wide-moat Agilent released strong fourth-quarter results that helped it exceed our expectations for fiscal 2022. Management also delivered 2023 guidance above our prior expectations. Considering those strong trends ($5 of increase) and recently generated cash flows ($7), we are raising our fair value estimate to $127 per share from $115 previously.

After its spin-out from Hewlett Packard in 1999 and its divestiture of the electronic measurement business (Keysight Technologies) in November 2014, Agilent focuses on providing tools to analyze the structural properties of various chemicals, molecules, and cells. Agilent is one of the leading providers of chromatography and mass spectrometry tools, which have applications in a variety of end markets, including the healthcare, chemical, food, and environmental fields. While healthcare-related applications, including clinical diagnostics, remain Agilent’s largest end market, Agilent generates about half of its sales from nonhealthcare fields.

Wide-moat Agilent released strong fiscal third-quarter results, and management slightly increased its 2022 bottom-line outlook again. While the firm appears to be tracking a bit above our expectations for the full year, the mild outperformance does not appear material enough to change our $115 fair value estimate. Agilent shares still appear slightly rich.

Wide-moat Agilent released solid second-quarter results, and management slightly increased its fiscal 2022 bottom-line outlook. We are raising our fair value estimate to $115 per share from $107 primarily to account for cash flows generated in the past couple quarters and slightly higher 2022 profit expectations.

After its spin-out from Hewlett Packard in 1999 and its divestiture of the electronic measurement business (Keysight Technologies) in November 2014, Agilent focuses on providing tools to analyze the structural properties of various chemicals, molecules, and cells. Agilent is one of the leading providers of chromatography and mass spectrometry tools, which have applications in a variety of end markets, including the healthcare, chemical, energy, food, and environmental fields. While healthcare-related applications, including clinical diagnostics, remain Agilent’s largest end market, Agilent generates about half of its sales from nonhealthcare fields.

Wide-moat Agilent released strong first-quarter results and management increased its fiscal 2022 outlook slightly on the top and bottom lines. Our profit and cash flow estimates for this year are in line with and higher, respectively, than management's new guidance, so at first glance, we do not anticipate changing our $107 fair value estimate. The shares still appear moderately rich to us.

After its spin-out from Hewlett Packard in 1999 and its divestiture of the electronic measurement business (Keysight Technologies) in November 2014, Agilent focuses primarily on providing tools to analyze the structural properties of various chemicals, molecules, and cells. Agilent is one of the leading providers of chromatography and mass spectrometry tools, which have applications in a variety of end markets, including the healthcare, chemical, energy, food, and environmental fields. While healthcare-related applications, including clinical diagnostics, remain Agilent’s largest end market, Agilent generates about nearly half of its sales from nonhealthcare fields.

Wide-moat Agilent released fourth-quarter results that roughly met our expectations. We are not changing our fair value estimate and continue to view shares as overvalued. Management's guidance for fiscal 2022 looks more in line with our long-term expectations for Agilent versus its inflated 2021 results, as COVID-19-related tailwinds are turning into headwinds.

After its spin-out from Hewlett Packard in 1999 and its divestiture of the electronic measurement business (Keysight Technologies) in November 2014, Agilent focuses primarily on providing tools to analyze the structural properties of various chemicals, molecules, and cells. Agilent is one of the leading providers of chromatography and mass spectrometry tools, which have applications in a variety of end markets, including the healthcare, chemical, energy, food, and environmental fields. While healthcare-related applications, including clinical diagnostics, remain Agilent’s largest end market, Agilent generates about nearly half of its sales from nonhealthcare fields.

Wide-moat Agilent reported third-quarter results that beat expectations on the top and bottom lines, and management increased its outlook for fiscal 2021 again after increasing guidance the past two quarters. We may moderately boost our fair value estimate based on these trends. However, shares still appear rich to us.

Wide-moat Agilent reported second-quarter results that significantly beat FactSet consensus on the top and bottom lines. As a result, management increased its outlook for fiscal 2021 again after increasing guidance last quarter, too. We have raised our fair value estimate to $100 per share from $95 based primarily on these stronger-than-expected trends.

After its spin-out from Hewlett Packard in 1999 and its divestiture of the electronic measurement business (Keysight Technologies) in November 2014, Agilent focuses primarily on providing tools to analyze the structural properties of various chemicals, molecules, and cells. Agilent is one of the leading providers of chromatography and mass spectrometry tools, which have applications in a variety of end markets, including the healthcare, chemical, energy, food, and environmental fields. While healthcare-related applications, including clinical diagnostic tools, remain Agilent’s largest end market, Agilent generates about half of its sales from non-healthcare fields.

Wide-moat Agilent reported first-quarter results that significantly beat FactSet consensus on the top and bottom lines, suggesting the company is continuing to gain market share and allowing management to boost its outlook for fiscal 2021 after only one quarter of results. We have raised our fair value estimate to $95 per share from $77 after increasing near-term estimates above management's new outlook ($6 of change), recognizing cash flow generated since our last update ($3 of change), and raising our longer-term cash flow projections given Agilent's continued investments in fast-growing end markets, such as its oligonucleotide business ($9 of change).