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Investing.com - UBS raised its price target on Agilent (NYSE:A) stock to $180.00 from $170.00 on Tuesday, while maintaining a Buy rating on the scientific instrument maker. The new target represents potential upside from Agilent’s current price of $158.20, which has already surpassed its previous 52-week high of $153.84.
The price target increase follows Agilent’s fourth-quarter results, which UBS noted supported its investment thesis on the company. Agilent delivered core organic revenue growth of approximately 7.2%, exceeding both UBS’s estimate of about 5% and the company’s own guidance. This performance aligns with the company’s impressive 42.11% price return over the past six months, according to InvestingPro data.
The strongest performance came from Agilent’s Life Sciences and Diagnostic Markets segment, which posted growth of approximately 10.7%, significantly outperforming UBS’s expectation of around 5%. The Crosslab division achieved growth of about 5.9%, slightly above the 5% estimate.
Agilent’s Applied Markets segment grew approximately 3.3%, which fell slightly below UBS’s 5% estimate. Despite this underperformance in one segment, the overall results reinforced UBS’s positive outlook.
UBS attributed its Buy rating to several long-term growth drivers for Agilent, including recent instrument launches, improving demand in China, and the company’s Nucleic Acid Solutions Division. While Agilent trades at a P/E ratio of 36.42 and appears overvalued according to InvestingPro Fair Value estimates, the company maintains a solid financial foundation with 14 consecutive years of dividend payments. For comprehensive analysis of Agilent and 1,400+ other stocks, explore the in-depth Pro Research Reports available on InvestingPro.
In other recent news, Agilent Technologies reported its fourth-quarter 2025 earnings, surpassing expectations with earnings per share of $1.59, slightly above the forecast of $1.58. The company achieved revenue of $1.86 billion, exceeding predictions by $30 million, with a 7.2% core growth. All three segments of Agilent outperformed expectations, with notable growth in the Life Sciences and Diagnostics Group at 10.7%. Leerink Partners raised its price target for Agilent to $165, maintaining an Outperform rating, citing strong fourth-quarter performance and 7% organic growth. BofA Securities also increased its price target to $165, though it maintained a Neutral rating. Evercore ISI adjusted its price target to $155, highlighting double-digit growth in liquid chromatography and robust performance in LC/MS. Agilent’s guidance for fiscal year 2026 indicates expected organic growth of 4-6%, aligning with consensus expectations. These developments reflect Agilent’s strong performance and positive analyst outlooks.
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