Company Reports

Narrow-moat Aptar reported solid first-quarter earnings that were in line with expectations. Revenue was $915 million, or 5% year-over-year core growth, which excludes 1% of currency headwinds. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 19.5%, a respectable 1.7 percentage points better than the same period last year. We maintain our fair value estimate of $147 and view shares as fairly valued.

Aptar's fourth-quarter earnings outperformed our expectations due to better profit margins. We have also reviewed our thoughts on the company, affirming our narrow moat rating thanks to the strong intangibles and switching costs we see in its Pharma segment. We have revised our fair value to $147 per share from $132 previously, too, to reflect our assumption of continued improvement in profitability.

Aptar is a global leader in dispensing technologies and operates under three business segments, Aptar Pharma, Aptar Beauty, and Aptar Closures. The company specializes in various drug dispensing solutions including nasal spray inhalers and elastomer components for injectable drugs, high-end fragrance pumps, and food dispensing closures. While Aptar’s portfolio includes lower-margin products such as shampoo and soap pumps and caps for sauce bottles, it has intentionally focused on growing the higher-margin healthcare business over the past decade, which now accounts for about two thirds of operating profits.

Narrow-moat Aptar's third-quarter performance continued the high note we have seen throughout 2023. We are maintaining our $132 fair value estimate following a strong quarter that reaffirmed our opinion on the intangible asset and switching costs that Aptar's pharma business enjoys. Adjusted EBITDA increased over 26% year over year, supported by cost savings efforts and operating leverage. Shares are currently undervalued, in our view.

Narrow-moat Aptar reported solid second-quarter results, continuing the positive trend in the previous quarter. The company sees a strong pipeline as over 85 medical products using Aptar’s proprietary delivery technology were launched in the first half of 2023. We are encouraged by Aptar’s presence among small to midsize pharma companies, highlighting the significant switching costs Aptar’s pharma business has developed. Therefore, we maintain our $132 fair value estimate for the company. Shares are currently trading undervalued.

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.

Narrow-moat Aptar posted solid first-quarter results. The firm saw a 4% increase in core sales year over year driven by strong demand in the pharmaceutical and beauty segments. In addition to higher volumes, the firm was able to increase prices to keep up with raw material inflation, despite resistance to pricing in prior quarters. We reaffirm our fair value estimate of $132 per share based on the firm’s sound start to the year.

Aptar is a global leader in dispensing technologies and operates under three business segments, Aptar Pharma, Aptar Beauty, and Aptar Closures. The company specializes in nasal spray inhalers, high-end fragrance pumps, and food dispensing closures. While Aptar’s portfolio includes lower-margin products such as shampoo and soap pumps, it has intentionally focused on growing the higher-margin healthcare business over the past decade, and healthcare now accounts for two thirds of profits.

Narrow-moat Aptar delivered solid fourth-quarter and full-year results driven primarily by its Pharma business and volume growth in beauty and home. Full-year 2022 results are in line with our assumptions, and we are maintaining our $132 fair value estimate. Shares appear undervalued.

Aptar reported decent third-quarter results driven by its pharmaceutical segment and pricing initiatives offsetting rising costs. Although we adjusted our near-term assumptions to account for lower-than-expected growth in the beauty and home and food and beverage segments, we are maintaining our $132 fair value estimate. The shares appear undervalued.

Aptar is a global leader in dispensing technologies for the healthcare, beauty, and food and beverage markets. The company specializes in nasal spray inhalers, high-end fragrance pumps, and food dispensing closures. While Aptar’s portfolio includes lower-margin products such as shampoo and soap pumps, it has intentionally focused on growing the higher-margin healthcare business over the past decade, and healthcare now accounts for two thirds of profits.

Aptar’s solid second-quarter results show that the firm’s pricing strategy has been successful at maintaining growth while also limiting margin contraction. Considering we had already projected earnings improvement due to Aptar’s pricing power and sticky relationships with customers, we are leaving our $132 fair value estimate intact. Our narrow-moat rating is also unchanged, and we still see shares as undervalued, with the stock trading at an 18% discount to fair value.

Narrow-moat Aptar had a good start to the year, with constant-currency sales growth of 13% driven by postpandemic rebounds in the food and beauty segments, though operating margin was about flat year over year. We have slightly reduced our gross margin expectations for the year ahead, offset by higher top-line growth in our model, and our fair value estimate is unchanged at $132 per share. We continue to see the shares as undervalued, trading at a 13% discount to our fair value estimate.

Aptar is a global leader in dispensing technologies for the healthcare, beauty, and food and beverage markets. The company specializes in nasal spray inhalers, high-end fragrance pumps, and food dispensing closures. While Aptar’s portfolio includes lower-margin products such as shampoo and soap pumps, it has intentionally focused on growing the higher-margin healthcare business over the past decade, and healthcare now accounts for two thirds of profits.

Narrow-moat Aptar had a good end to the year with core sales increasing 10% year over year and sequential margin improvement. Our $132 fair value estimate is unchanged. Following a post-earnings share price rise of about 4%, shares appear fairly valued in our view.

Aptar is a global leader in dispensing technologies for the healthcare, beauty, and food and beverage markets. The company specializes in nasal spray inhalers, high-end fragrance pumps, and food dispensing closures. While Aptar’s portfolio includes lower-margin products such as shampoo and soap pumps, it has intentionally focused on growing the higher-margin healthcare business over the past decade, and healthcare now accounts for two thirds of profits.

Aptar is a global leader in dispensing technologies for the healthcare, beauty, and food and beverage markets. The company specializes in nasal spray inhalers, high-end fragrance pumps, and food dispensing closures. While Aptar’s portfolio includes lower-margin products such as shampoo and soap pumps, it has intentionally focused on growing the higher-margin healthcare business over the past decade, and healthcare now accounts for two thirds of its profits.

Narrow-moat Aptar reported mixed third-quarter results, with the firm's pandemic recovery facing headwinds from the delta variant, supply chain disruptions, and inflation. We maintain our $124 fair value estimate, and shares look fairly valued in our opinion.

Narrow-moat Aptar had a steady second quarter, and we are maintaining our $125 fair value estimate. While revenue surpassed expectations with somewhat surprising 16% top-line growth, about 6% of this growth was currency-related, and price adjustments contributed several percentage points as well. We see shares as fairly valued in light of the 7% decline in the stock price following earnings.

We are restarting coverage of dispensing packaging and drug delivery firm Aptar with a $124 fair value estimate. We are maintaining our narrow moat and stable moat trend ratings, and we think shares are moderately overvalued.