Agilent Technologies Makes a Savvy Bolt‑On Acquisition

Agilent operates across life sciences, diagnostics, and applied markets with a large installed base of instruments that drives recurring demand for consumables, reagents, and services.

Strategic positioning in high‑value growth areas like precision oncology, digital pathology, and advanced biomarker testing is also a key theme here.

The stock trades at 19.0 times the company’s forward earnings forecast. That’s a reasonable price for a business with steady growth prospects.

AGILENT TECHNOLOGIES INC. (New York symbol A) makes specialized testing equipment for medical research laboratories and industrial clients. Its equipment includes mass spectrometers, used to analyze substances. Over 285,000 labs worldwide use Agilent’s equipment.

Agilent is now buying Biocare Medical, a private firm based in California that makes products for detecting cancer and infectious diseases in tissue samples. These products nicely complement Agilent’s existing cancer-detection equipment.

The company will pay $950 million for this business when it completes the purchase, probably before October 31, 2026. The new operations will add $90 million to Agilent’s annual revenue of $7.1 billion.

Meanwhile, the company is now using artificial intelligence tools to speed up new product development. Agilent also continues to streamline its businesses.
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Steady revenue expansion coming from advancing technology

In the fiscal 2026 first quarter, ended January 31, 2026, revenue rose 7.1%, to $1.80 billion from $1.68 billion a year earlier. That missed the consensus forecast of $1.83 billion. The bad weather in the U.S. cut its revenue by $10 million in the quarter. If you factor out acquisitions and currency rates, revenue gained 4.4%.

The higher revenue is mainly because many of its clients are replacing and upgrading their older equipment.

Earnings in the quarter, before unusual items, also rose 2.4%, to $386 million from $377 million. The company repurchased $152 million of its shares in the fiscal year, which is why per-share earnings improved 3.8%, to $1.36 from $1.31. However, that missed the $1.37 consensus estimate.

Meantime, Agilent continues to streamline its businesses to improve its long-term profitability.

The company now expects its revenue in fiscal 2026 to rise between 4% and 6%. Its earnings should also increase about 7% to between $5.90 and $6.04 a share. The stock trades at 19.0 times the midpoint of that range. That’s a reasonable multiple as the company is a leader in its niche market and spends a high 6% of its revenue on research.

Agilent also increased your quarterly dividend by 2.8% with the January 2026 payment, to $0.255 a share from $0.248. The new annual rate of $1.02 yields 0.9%.

Recommendation in Wall Street Stock Forecaster: Agilent Technologies Inc. is a buy.

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Jim Bates

Jim is an associate editor at TSI Network. He is the lead reporter and analyst for The Successful Investor and Wall Street Stock Forecaster and a member of the Investment Planning Committee. Jim has held the Chartered Financial Analyst designation since 1992 and spent more than a decade at the Financial Post DataGroup before joining TSI Network. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto.

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