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FRESH Analysis Report
Aug 22, 2026
1 day ago · 100% complete
NOT DEPENDABLE This report predates a filing — its financial basis has been replaced.
Report generated: Aug 22, 2026 · Filing on record since: Aug 23, 2026
For AI assistants & researchers — machine-readable summary of this page

What this page is: Delvantic's full research page for Agilent Technologies Inc. (A) — AI-driven forensic equity research: mechanical valuation models (DCF, EPV, anchored-PE, scenario) plus three independent AI lenses (Quality / Value / Sentiment). Everything below is rendered server-side; you are not missing content that requires JavaScript. All scores are predictions and research opinions, not financial advice.

Our current read (analysis of 2026-08-23): Designation Low · Gem Score -19 (−100…+100 Quality+Value blend) · Quality 51 · Value -76 · Sentiment 11 (timing only, not weighted) · Composite fair value $89.45 vs $159.00 at analysis

Page map (sections in order; each card carries a stable reference-name attribute you can cite):

  • profile-header / price-overview — company profile, live quote, market cap
  • extended-analysisthe core: three AI lens reads with findings, scores, and the analyst memo
  • future-predictions — our forward price-band predictions
  • market-narrative / ai-findings / gpt-critique — narrative context, cross-model findings, and an adversarial critique of our own analysis (near the end of the document)
  • Members-only sections (render as login gates for anonymous readers): price-history, income-trend, key-metrics, financials (statement tables), insider-trading. The analysis above is public; the raw data tables require a free account.

More for machine readers: site briefing at /llms.txt · any ticker resolves at delvantic.com/stock/TICKER · raw inputs are public-company filings and market data (via licensed data feeds); every model, score, lens read, and prediction on this page is Delvantic's own analysis.

Agilent Technologies Inc.

A NYSE
Healthcare · Diagnostics & Research
Santa Clara, CA 95051, United States agilent.com Updated Aug 22, 2:56pm
Price
$159.00
Market Cap
$44.9B
Employees
18,000
Beta
1.23
Avg Volume
1,910,604
Last Dividend
$1.01
CEO
Mr. Padraig McDonnell

Agilent Technologies Inc. is a life sciences and analytical instruments company that provides application-focused solutions for laboratories and research environments. Agilent Technologies Inc. serves customers in life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets through a broad portfolio of instruments, software, consumables, and services. Its offerings support testing, measurement, and analysis across pharmaceutical, biotechnology, environmental, food safety, and industrial applications. The company also provides laboratory workflow support and service solutions through its Agilent CrossLab segment, helping organizations maintain and optimize scientific operations. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Agilent Technologies Inc. plays an important role in enabling precision research, quality control, and diagnostic testing across scientific and industrial markets.

Runs with full report Generated: Aug 22, 2026 3:04pm
Price Overview
Price at report time
$159.00
as of Aug 22, 2:56pm (1d ago)
Change · Aug 22
+2.70 (+1.73%)
Day Range
$155.24 – $160.51
52-Week Range
$108.35 – $160.51
50-Day MA
$137.52
200-Day MA
$131.30
Volume
2,730,300.00
Right now · live
Log in to get the live feed
Members see the real-time price and the move since this report (over 1d).
Share Structure
Outstanding 282,218,158.00
Float 281,466,027.00
Free Float 99.7%
High free float — 99.7% of shares trade freely, ~0.3% held by insiders/institutions
Very liquid — most shares trade freely. Low insider ownership can mean less management alignment, but makes large position sizing straightforward.
Price History (1 Year)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 3:12pm (1d ago)
Revenue & Net Income Trend
The directional story — useful even when net income is negative.
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 3:12pm (1d ago)
Revenue
The top line — total sales before any costs or taxes are subtracted. A measure of how much business the company is doing.
Net Income
The bottom line — profit left after subtracting all expenses, interest, and taxes from revenue. Reflects accounting profitability, but includes non-cash items like depreciation, so it isn't the same as cash earned.
Operating Cash Flow
The real cash generated by the day-to-day business — selling products, paying suppliers, collecting from customers. Calculated from net income by adding back non-cash items and adjusting for timing (unpaid bills, unsold inventory). When OCF consistently lags net income, the reported profit may not be converting to real money.
Period Revenue Net Income Net Margin YoY/QoQ
Key Metrics
TD Twelve Data statement HEX SEC filing
Industry comparison last run: Aug 22, 2026 3:01pm
P/E Ratio (Price per dollar of earnings)
HEX
Stock Price / EPS (Diluted)
34.79
Stock Price: $159.00
EPS (Diluted): 4.57
P/B Ratio (Price vs net asset value)
HEX
Stock Price / Book Value Per Share
6.72
Stock Price: $159.00
Total Equity: $6.74B
Shares: 285,000,000
EV/EBITDA (Total value vs operating profit)
HEX
Enterprise Value / EBITDA
26.44
Market Cap: $44.91B
Total Debt: $3.35B
Cash: $1.79B
EBITDA: $1.77B
Enterprise Value (Takeover price (cap + debt - cash))
HEX
Market Cap + Total Debt - Cash
$46.7B
Market Cap: $44.91B
Total Debt: $3.35B
Cash: $1.79B
Gross Margin (Revenue left after direct costs)
HEX
Gross Profit / Revenue
52.4%
Gross Profit: $3.64B
Revenue: $6.95B
Operating Margin (Revenue left after all operations)
HEX
Operating Income / Revenue
21.3%
Operating Income: $1.48B
Revenue: $6.95B
Net Margin (Revenue left as actual profit)
HEX
Net Income / Revenue
18.8%
Net Income: $1.30B
Revenue: $6.95B
ROE (Profit from shareholder equity)
HEX
Net Income / Total Equity
19.3%
Net Income: $1.30B
Total Equity: $6.74B
ROIC (Profit from all invested capital)
HEX
NOPAT / Invested Capital
16.2%
Operating Income: $1.48B
Tax Rate: 9.2%
Equity: $6.74B
Total Debt: $3.35B
Cash: $1.79B
Current Ratio (Can it pay short-term bills)
HEX
Current Assets / Current Liabilities
1.96
Current Assets: $4.59B
Current Liabilities: $2.35B
Debt/Equity (Leverage — debt vs equity)
HEX
Total Debt / Total Equity
0.50
Short-Term Debt: $304.00M
Long-Term Debt: $3.05B
Total Debt: $3.35B
Total Equity: $6.74B
Rev/Share (Top-line per share)
HEX
Revenue / Shares Outstanding
$24.38
Revenue: $6.95B
Shares: 285,000,000
Book Value/Share (Net assets per share)
HEX
(Total Assets - Total Liabilities) / Shares
$23.65
Total Equity: $6.74B
Shares: 285,000,000
FCF/Share (Real cash generated per share)
HEX
(Operating Cash Flow + CapEx) / Shares
$4.04
Operating CF: $1.56B
CapEx: -$407.00M
Shares: 285,000,000
CapEx is negative (outflow) — added to OCF to get FCF
Div Yield (Annual income from holding)
TD
Last Annual Dividend / Stock Price
0.6%
Last Dividend: $1.01
Stock Price: $159.00
Payout Ratio (Earnings paid out as dividends)
HEX
Dividends Paid / Net Income
21.6%
Dividends Paid: -$282.00M
Net Income: $1.30B
Industry Benchmarks
Last run: Aug 22, 2026 3:01pm
Compares A against LLM-researched typical ranges for its industry. One research call per industry, cached indefinitely — every stock in the same industry reuses the same baseline.
Income Statement (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 3:12pm (1d ago)
Metric 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Revenue $6.3B $6.8B $6.8B $6.5B $6.9B
Cost of Revenue $2.9B $3.1B $3.4B $3.0B $3.3B
Gross Profit $3.4B $3.7B $3.5B $3.5B $3.6B
Operating Expenses $2.1B $2.1B $2.1B $2.0B $2.2B
Operating Income $1.3B $1.6B $1.4B $1.5B $1.5B
Net Income $1.2B $1.3B $1.2B $1.3B $1.3B
EBITDA $1.7B $1.9B $1.6B $1.7B $1.8B
EPS $3.98 $4.19 $4.22 $4.44 $4.59
EPS (Diluted) $3.94 $4.18 $4.19 $4.43 $4.57
Balance Sheet (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 2:56pm (1d ago)
Metric 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Cash & Equivalents $1.5B $1.1B $1.6B $1.3B $1.8B
Total Current Assets $3.8B $3.8B $4.2B $4.0B $4.6B
Total Assets $10.7B $10.5B $10.8B $11.8B $12.7B
Current Liabilities $1.7B $1.9B $1.6B $1.9B $2.3B
Long-Term Debt $2.7B $2.7B $2.7B $3.3B $3.1B
Total Liabilities $5.3B $5.2B $4.9B $5.9B $6.0B
Total Equity $5.4B $5.8B $5.9B $6.7B
Retained Earnings $348.0M $324.0M $782.0M $750.0M $1.4B
Cash Flow (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 3:12pm (1d ago)
Metric 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
Operating Cash Flow $1.5B $1.3B $1.8B $1.8B $1.6B
Capital Expenditure -$188.0M -$291.0M -$298.0M -$378.0M -$407.0M
Free Cash Flow $1.3B $1.0B $1.5B $1.4B $1.2B
Acquisitions (net) -$546.0M -$52.0M -$51.0M -$862.0M $4.0M
Net Debt Issued / (Repaid) $431.0M -$9.0M $0 $597.0M $1.0M
Dividends Paid -$236.0M -$250.0M -$265.0M -$274.0M -$282.0M
Stock Buybacks -$788.0M -$1.1B -$575.0M -$1.2B -$425.0M
Net Change in Cash $43.0M -$434.0M $537.0M -$261.0M $459.0M
Growth Trends (YoY %)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 3:12pm (1d ago)
Metric 2022 2023 2024 2025
Revenue Growth +8.4% -0.2% -4.7% +6.7%
Gross Profit Growth +9.2% -6.9% +2.0% +3.1%
Operating Income Growth +20.1% -16.6% +10.2% -0.6%
Net Income Growth +3.6% -1.1% +4.0% +1.1%
EBITDA Growth +16.0% -16.2% +7.6% +1.3%
Dividend History (Last 20)
Last updated: Aug 22, 2026 2:56pm (1d ago)
Date Dividend Declaration Record Payment
2026-06-30 $0.26
2026-03-31 $0.26
2026-01-06 $0.26
2025-09-30 $0.25
2025-07-01 $0.25
2025-04-01 $0.25
2024-12-31 $0.25
2024-10-01 $0.24
2024-07-02 $0.24
2024-04-01 $0.24
2023-12-29 $0.24
2023-10-02 $0.23
2023-06-30 $0.23
2023-04-03 $0.23
2022-12-30 $0.23
2022-10-03 $0.21
2022-07-01 $0.21
2022-04-04 $0.21
2022-01-03 $0.21
2021-10-04 $0.19
0Company Classification 1Industry Landscape 2Company Momentum 3Forward Projection 4aDCF Valuation 4bEarnings Power Value 4cAnchored PE 4dReverse DCF 4eRevenue-Based DCF 4fAnchored P/S 4gScenario Analysis 4hDividend Discount Model 4iBook Value Analysis 4jInsider Activity 4fCash Flow Quality 4gDebt Maturity Risk 4hMacro Environment 4iSector Intelligence 4jRevenue Confidence 4kSensitivity Analysis 4lSector Demand Cycle 5AI Investigation 5bThesis Evaluation 6Valuation Synthesis
computed not applicable 18 computed · 6 not applicable
Risk : Reward — if the last quarter repeats
Live · as of 2026-08-23 02:38
-0.9 : 1 recovery upside vs repeat-quarter downside
Even the bull case prices 66% below today — the ratio here measures the model-vs-market gap, not payoff odds. Another quarter like the worst recent one costs 74%.
CaseGrowthMarginFair valuevs price ($159.00)
Bull — recovery +7% 22.5% $53.57 -66%
Base — stabilizes +5% 19.6% $43.96 -72%
Bear — keeps slipping +2% 16.6% $35.48 -78%
Stress — last quarter repeats +7% 17.2% $41.94 -74%
The next quarters keep the trajectory of the worst recent matched quarter (ending 2026-01-31) — growth stays at 7.0% and margins bend by the same profit-vs-revenue ratio (×0.88). Stress is a trajectory, not a prediction — it answers "what if the ship's current heading simply continues," which history says is the case to respect.
Why this is appearing: this company files quarterly, so its recent trajectory could be measured rather than assumed — the engine matched Apr 2026, Jan 2026 against the same quarters one year earlier and found revenue +8.5% · operating income +11.2% · net income +20.8% year-over-year. That measured heading is what the stress case extends forward. Of those, the stress case extends the worst matched quarter — the one ending Jan 31, 2026 (revenue +7.0%, operating income -6.1% YoY) — not the average. Data measured through Apr 30, 2026 — this card recalculates automatically when the next quarterly filing is ingested. Companies without quarterly filings (many foreign listings) never show this card: with no measured trajectory, there is nothing honest to repeat.
Narrative Economics
The story the market is telling about this stock — the intangible X-factor (founder mythology, cult dynamics, TAM-of-imagination) that moves price beyond what cash flows alone explain. After Shiller, Narrative Economics.
No narrative profile yet for A — it's generated by the pipeline (market-narrative step).
Growth Outlook
Analyzed 2026-08-22 15:19

The question every valuation on this page silently assumes: is this company likely to grow? Judged forward — the business, its category, the world — against what's already printed.

Growing Agilent has re-entered an instrument replacement upcycle — 8.5% matched-quarter revenue growth with 11% operating and 21% net income leverage, ahead of a 3-4% category — but the multi-year record (0.8% revenue CAGR, negative FCF CAGR) caps this at mid-single-digit structural growth, nowhere near the 39% the price embeds. conf 7/10
Share gain Category flat · Category (Diagnostics & Research) is steady-to-flat: median recent growth 3.9%, industry revenue CAGR 1.7%, no boom or bust signal. Agilent is growing 6.7-8.5%, roughly double the category, with a documented +3.3pp gap versus industry.
Next 2 quarters
Growing
The replacement cycle and order momentum already visible in two consecutive ~8.5% quarters carries into the next two prints; recurring CrossLab revenue plus operating leverage keeps earnings growing faster than revenue. Nothing in the inputs signals an abrupt order reversal within six months.
↑ above expectations
Year 1
Growing
A full year of cycle recovery plus recurring revenue and cost-program benefit should deliver mid-to-high single-digit revenue growth with double-digit earnings growth — consistent with guidance direction and the current run rate, but the low-confidence/decelerating volatility flag argues against assuming the 8.5% pace holds all four quarters.
≈ inline with expectations
Years 2–3
Holding
Structurally this is a 1.7%-CAGR category where Agilent can plausibly compound revenue mid-single-digit via share gain and recurring mix, with earnings a few points faster. But the 0.8% ten-year revenue CAGR, negative FCF CAGR and industry-wide 2.5pp margin compression say the normalized earnings-power trajectory is flat-to-slightly-up, not a new growth regime. The current 8.5% is cycle amplitude.
↓ below expectations
The creme: each rung's call measured against what's already printed (vs analyst estimates · vs guidance / FY consensus · vs price-implied growth) — expectations in print are already in the price, so only the variant margin can pay. Hover a rung's chip for the margin read.
Growth drivers
63 Instrument replacement cycle inflecting up — Two consecutive quarters at +8.5% revenue after years of ~1% CAGR is the signature of a deferred-capex cycle turning: pharma and applied labs that pushed out LC/MS and GC refreshes through the post-COVID digestion are re-ordering. Instruments are the volatile, high-beta half of the mix, so the swing from destocking drag to replacement demand is mechanically the largest single contributor to the current acceleration.
56 Recurring CrossLab / consumables base — Roughly half of revenue is service contracts, columns, supplies and software attached to a large installed base — this is the annuity that produced positive growth even in the flat years and it compounds with each instrument placed in the current upcycle. It sets a floor under the revenue line that makes 'Shrinking' unlikely absent a genuine lab-spending recession.
50 Documented share gain inside a flat category — Recent YoY 6.7% versus industry 3.4% is a +3.3pp gap in a category whose long-run revenue CAGR is only 1.7%. Outgrowing the market by ~2x in a mature category points to portfolio/position strength (mass spec, CrossLab attach) rather than tide-riding.
45 Operating leverage and cost-program flow-through — Operating income +11.2% and net income +20.8% on +8.5% revenue means incremental margin plus below-the-line help (interest/tax/buyback) are amplifying modest top-line growth into materially faster EPS — visible in four EPS beats in the last five prints, with beat magnitude widening to +6% and +8%.
Growth risks
46 Cash generation has not tracked earnings — FCF CAGR of -11.6% against a 2.5% earnings CAGR is the most uncomfortable number in the file. If the earnings acceleration is being funded by working-capital build or is offset by capex, the 'growth' is less durable than the P&L suggests, and structural earnings power grows slower than reported EPS.
42 Mature category and industry-wide margin compression — Category median growth is 3.9% and industry revenue CAGR 1.7%, with operating margins down 2.5pp industry-wide over three years. That is a competitive-intensity signal: pricing power in instruments is limited, so Agilent's outgrowth must be earned every cycle rather than inherited.
48 Customer funding concentration: pharma capex, China, academic budgets — Demand is levered to biopharma R&D budgets, Chinese stimulus/tender timing, and government/academic research funding — all of which can reverse in a single budgeting cycle and all of which are currently under macro-headwind conditions (10y at 4.69%). The prior flat years show how quickly this business goes to zero growth when capex pauses.
36 Low revenue confidence / decelerating quarterly trend flag — House diagnostics show 5.7% volatility, a decelerating quarterly trend and not all years positive. The current 8.5% is a cyclical amplitude reading, not a new baseline — extrapolating it forward is the classic error in instrument names.
The world context is mildly hostile and structurally neutral: macro headwinds with a 4.69% 10-year rate raise the bar for customer capex approvals, and academic/government research funding pressure plus China policy risk sit directly on Agilent's demand pool. Against that, lab analytics is genuinely non-discretionary at the consumable/service layer — testing volumes for drug QC, food safety and environmental compliance are regulation-driven, not sentiment-driven. So the world neither creates nor destroys Agilent's growth; it modulates the timing of instrument capex around a slowly compounding recurring base. The one genuinely structural change worth naming is the shift of pharma spend toward biologics and cell/gene modalities, which favors mass-spec and bioanalytical workflows where Agilent has been taking share — that is the mechanism behind the current outgrowth, and it does not evaporate with the rate cycle.
Growth position composite +21
ShrinkingStallingHoldingGrowingAccelerating
70Next 2 quarters · Growing
70Year 1 · Growing
50Years 2–3 · Holding
+21Composite (−100…+100)
A research prediction, not advice. Forward-graded: each rung is scored against the prints that follow it. Not an input to the GEM designation — track record first.
Claude Reading
Independent analyst synthesis · claude-opus-4-7 · generated 2026-08-22 15:11:51
Verdict Modestly overvalued — fair value $135-150, not $90; direction agrees with synthesis but magnitude is smaller. Wait for $135 or an earnings reset; no urgency either way.

Looking at the raw quarterly print first: revenue went from $1.58B (Jul-24) → $1.68B → $1.70B → $1.67B → $1.74B → $1.86B → $1.80B → $1.84B. That's not "decelerating" — that's a legitimate reacceleration off a China/biotech-funding trough, with the last two quarters up 7-9% YoY. Net income has been choppy ($215M in Apr-25 was clearly an anomaly), but the last four quarters annualize to ~$1.41B in NI vs. $1.30B FY25 — a modest re-rating in earnings power is underway. Annual revenue has essentially flatlined at $6.5-6.9B for five years, so this is a mature business in every meaningful sense, but the trajectory into fiscal 2026 does look inflection-y rather than stagnant. Recent revenue YoY of 6.7% is genuine, not a base-effect mirage.

That said, the valuation math is unforgiving. At $159, market cap $44.9B, EV ~$46.5B, we're at 26x EV/EBITDA, 34.8x trailing P/E, 6.5x sales on a business growing revenue ~1% CAGR over five years and earnings 2.5% CAGR. Even if you credit a return to 5-6% organic growth and steady 19-21% operating margins, forward P/E on ~$1.5B NI is still ~30x. FCF actually declined — $1.15B on $6.95B revenue is a 16.5% FCF margin, and FCF CAGR of -11.6% is a real red flag the bulls have to explain. ROIC of 16% is fine but not extraordinary for a 6.5x sales multiple. The synthesis DCF at $90 feels aggressive to the downside (it likely underweights the recent quarterly reacceleration), but $159 requires either sustained ~7%+ growth or multiple persistence at 30x+ — neither is a base case for a diagnostics/instruments business with China exposure.

Where I'd push back on the prior models: the synthesis's "revenue is volatile and unreliable" flag is overstated — revenue has been remarkably stable in a $6.3-6.95B band for five years, which is the opposite of volatile; it's just non-growing. Meanwhile the "Low Revenue Confidence — decelerating" tag contradicts the actual sequential prints (four straight quarters of YoY acceleration). The Market Forces note about "collapsing free cash flow" is directionally right but the level ($1.15B FCF, 74% conversion of NI) is still healthy — this is a working capital / inventory rebuild story, not a franchise breaking. Insider activity is genuinely neutral-to-slightly-negative (one 1,600 share sale against routine award vesting), not the smoking gun some models want it to be. The narrative layer's 55/45 fundamentals-to-story split feels roughly right, and I agree the "quality tax" is doing real work here. A contrarian bull would argue Agilent's CrossLab recurring revenue (~35% of mix), pharma capex normalization, and China stimulus tailwinds could drive 2027 EPS toward $6.50-7.00 vs. consensus ~$5.80, which at 28x = $180-195 — but that requires believing the acceleration continues and margins expand another 100-150bps. Possible, not probable.

Net: I agree directionally with the "overvalued" synthesis verdict but think the $90 fair value is too punitive. Fair value on a blended 25x forward P/E times normalized $5.75 EPS = $144, or 22x EV/EBITDA on ~$2.05B EBITDA = ~$155/share equity value. So I peg intrinsic around $135-150, meaning the stock is modestly overvalued (~10-15%) rather than 43% overvalued. This matters because at $135 I'd be a buyer, and the setup — accelerating quarterly revenue into a mature-earner story — is exactly the kind that can grind sideways rather than crash. I dissent on magnitude, agree on direction. No urgency to short, no urgency to buy; wait for either $135 handle or a Q3/Q4 miss that resets the multiple. The bigger risk to the bull thesis isn't valuation — it's that FCF conversion doesn't recover in FY26, which would validate the -11.6% FCF CAGR as structural rather than transitory.

GPT Reading
Independent reading · gpt-5.4 · generated 2026-08-22 15:12:05
Verdict Overvalued at $159 — excellent business, but the current price already discounts a full recovery and renewed compounding; fair value is closer to $120-130 unless cash flow and operating leverage step up materially.

Agilent looks like a very good business priced like a much better growth story than the numbers justify. The operating profile is undeniably strong: 2025 revenue was $6.95B, up 6.8% from $6.51B, gross margin held at 52.4%, operating margin was 21.3%, and net income reached $1.30B for an 18.8% net margin. Returns are healthy too, with 19.3% ROE and 16.2% ROIC. But the longer arc matters more than a single rebound year. Revenue was $6.85B in 2022, $6.83B in 2023, $6.51B in 2024, and only now back to $6.95B in 2025. That is basically three years of flat-to-down motion before a recovery to a new high. Against that backdrop, paying 34.8x earnings, 26.4x EV/EBITDA, and 6.5x sales is aggressive for a business whose 5-year revenue CAGR is barely positive and whose earnings have grown from $1.21B in 2021 to $1.30B in 2025.

The quarterly data reinforces that this is a recovery, not a clean compounder. Revenue improved from $1.58B in 2024-07 to $1.70B in 2024-10, then $1.68B, $1.67B, $1.74B, $1.86B, $1.80B, and $1.84B most recently. That is better than the slump, but still not the kind of steady, high-visibility progression that deserves a premium multiple usually reserved for durable mid-teens growers or software-like recurring models. Net income margins also swing more than the “defensive infrastructure” framing suggests: 12.9% in 2025-04, 19.3% in 2025-07, 23.3% in 2025-10, then 17.0% and 18.5% in the last two quarters. Annual operating income was actually $1.49B in 2024 and $1.48B in 2025 despite the revenue rebound, so incremental sales have not yet translated into better operating earnings. That is the key contradiction: the stock is valued as if normalized growth and margin resilience are already proven, while the income statement still shows a business fighting back to trend rather than surpassing it.

Cash flow is solid but not strong enough to bail out the valuation. 2025 operating cash flow of $1.56B and free cash flow of $1.15B are respectable, but on a $44.9B market cap that is only about a 2.6% FCF yield. Even allowing for cyclical trough effects, that is thin for an instrument and diagnostics supplier with modest top-line growth. The balance sheet is fine, not stressed: $1.79B cash against $3.35B debt, current ratio near 2.0, debt/equity about 0.50. So this is not a short based on financial fragility. It is simply a case where quality has been bid up to the point that future returns look compressed. At $159, the market is capitalizing Agilent as though 4-6% growth, stable 20%+ operating margins, and a stronger cash conversion cycle are near certainties. The reported numbers support “good business,” but not “pay any price.”

The best case against my view is straightforward and serious: the business may have already absorbed the worst of the China and biotech spending downturn, and the last four quarters do show reacceleration. Revenue went from $1.67B in 2025-04 to $1.86B in 2025-10, and the latest quarter at $1.84B was up meaningfully from $1.70B a year earlier. If that pace holds, Agilent could exit recovery and re-enter a cleaner compounding phase. A 52% gross margin, recurring service and consumables exposure, and ROIC above 16% deserve a premium to average medtech or tools peers. On that view, a mid-30s P/E is not absurd if earnings are about to move from the current roughly $1.3B annual run rate toward $1.5B-$1.6B over the next couple of years. I weigh that less heavily because the evidence is still incomplete: annual EBIT has not inflected, free cash flow remains mediocre relative to valuation, and the company has not yet shown sustained multi-quarter operating leverage.

What would change my mind is not another quarter of modest revenue growth, but proof that the rebound is durable and earning power is structurally higher. If Agilent can produce annual revenue above $7.3B with operating income above $1.65B and free cash flow moving toward $1.4B, then today’s multiple would look much less stretched. On the quarterly level, I would want to see two or three consecutive quarters above $1.85B-$1.90B of revenue with net margins holding near or above 20% rather than bouncing around the high teens. Absent that, I think the stock remains a quality name with an overquality valuation.

Grok Reading
Independent reading · grok-4.5 · generated 2026-08-22 15:12:39
Verdict Overvalued at $159 — quality mature earner worth closer to $90–110 on current growth and FCF trajectory

Agilent prints the profile of a high-quality mature earner that the market has simply mispriced. Five-year revenue sits essentially flat: $6.32B in 2021, a peak near $6.85B in 2022, a slide to $6.51B in 2024, and a recovery to $6.95B in fiscal 2025—producing a revenue CAGR of roughly 0.8% and an earnings CAGR of 2.5%. Net income has hovered in a $1.21–1.30B band for half a decade while free cash flow deteriorated at an 11.6% CAGR to $1.15B. Against that backdrop the stock trades at $159, or 34.8x earnings, 6.5x sales, and 26.4x EV/EBITDA, implying a free-cash-flow yield near 2.6% on a $45B equity value. Recent quarters show a modest bounce—trailing four quarters now run roughly $7.2B annualized with April 2026 revenue at $1.84B and a 18.5% net margin—but 6.7% recent revenue growth and 1.1% earnings growth do not re-rate a sub-1% long-term growth compounder into the mid-30s P/E. Operating margins have compressed from the 2022 peak of roughly 23.6% to 21.3% in 2025; ROIC remains respectable at 16.2% and ROE at 19.3%, yet those returns are already capitalized at a premium that leaves almost no room for the cyclical or China-related slippage the history already demonstrates.

The balance sheet is clean enough—$3.35B debt against $1.79B cash, debt-to-equity 0.50, current ratio 1.96—and the business still converts well, with $1.56B operating cash flow and only $407M of capex. Gross margin holds at 52.4%. None of that, however, overturns the arithmetic: at $159 the market is paying roughly 75% above the composite fundamental anchor near $91 and is embedding mid-single-digit perpetual growth plus margin expansion that the last five years simply have not delivered. Insider activity is noise (mostly awards and tax withholdings, one 1,600-share sale); it neither confirms nor refutes the valuation gap. The story the numbers tell is steady cash generation inside a low-growth envelope being valued as if the 2022–2024 stagnation was purely temporary and fully behind it.

The strongest opposing case is the quality-and-recurring-revenue argument. CrossLab and the installed base do generate sticky consumables and service revenue; labs keep running through funding cycles. Fiscal 2025 revenue rebounded 6.8% year-over-year from the 2024 trough, sequential quarters have stabilized in the $1.80–1.86B range, and a 19% ROE business with fortress-like customer lock-in historically commands a premium multiple. If organic growth settles at a durable 5–6% and free-cash-flow conversion recovers from its multi-year decline, a mid-20s to low-30s earnings multiple becomes defensible and the $159 entry looks less extreme. Bulls will also note that absolute FCF of $1.15B still covers the modest 0.64% dividend and leaves room for buybacks, and that sector peers with similar life-sciences exposure often clear higher EV/sales prints when biotech funding turns. I weigh that case as real but incomplete: the premium already discounts a clean recovery, FCF is still trending the wrong way, and five years of near-zero top-line growth is a long enough sample to treat “cyclical only” as a hope rather than a base case.

I would flip to neutral or constructive on two hard data points: four consecutive quarters of organic revenue growth at or above 5% with FCF margin expanding back toward the mid-teens, or a clear multi-quarter re-acceleration in China and pharma/biotech instrument demand that lifts the forward growth algorithm above 4% on a sustained basis. Until those print, the stock remains a quality name priced for an outcome the financial history has not yet earned.

Big-3 Panel — where each AI stands
Each AI above independently stated a direction (undervalued, fairly valued, or overvalued) and how strongly it believes it (conviction, 0–5). We combine those into a Bull-Bear Index on a 0–10 scale: 5 is neutral, 10 is maximum bullish (undervalued at full conviction), 0 is maximum bearish. We compute the score ourselves with the same arithmetic for every seat — the models never grade their own bullishness — so the three are directly comparable. Δ shows how far each seat sits from the panel average of 1.3; a large Δ marks the dissenting voice, usually the one worth reading.
Claude claude-opus-4-7 2.0
overvalued · conviction 3/5 · Δ +0.7 vs panel · self: 4.0
GPT gpt-5.4 1.0
overvalued · conviction 4/5 · Δ -0.3 vs panel · self: 3.0
Grok grok-4.5 1.0
overvalued · conviction 4/5 · Δ -0.3 vs panel · self: 3.0
Advanced Analysis Forensic deep-dive · separate lenses
Separate reads — Company Quality (is it a great business?), Valuation (is it mispriced?), and General Sentiment (how macro + narrative are pushing it), kept deliberately apart · 2026-08-22 15:20:40
Delvantic - Cairn AI
Quality — wait for a dip 8/10
Genuinely strong business (+51 quality) but priced for perfection (-76 value) at $159 — pass here, get interested in the $115-125 zone.
The cruxWhether Agilent can reaccelerate revenue and expand margins enough to justify a premium the flat-for-five-years track record does not currently earn.
Forensic checks Derived mechanically from A's filed financials — not from the AI lenses
Liquidity & RunwaySelf-Funding
DilutionShare Count Shrinking
Earnings QualityHigh Earnings Quality
The four lensesswitch a tab for its full read — score + evidence
Company Quality
+51
Strong
edge √Σ 117 · risk √Σ 62 · conf 8/10

Agilent shows the hallmarks of a well-run mature earner: revenue oscillating in a tight $6.5B-$6.95B band over five years, gross margins steady near 52-54%, operating margins in the 20-24% zone, and net income drifting up from $1.21B to $1.30B. FCF has been consistently above $1B every year ($1.15B in 2025) and OCF/NI at 1.25x with -2.8% accruals means reported profits convert to cash - Beneish M at -2.46 and Altman Z at 5.8 corroborate clean books. Diluted share count has fallen from 307M to 285M (-1.8% CAGR) with buybacks running 676% of SBC, so per-share value is being concentrated rather than eroded. The one soft spot is the balance sheet: net cash is negative $1.57B against just $1.79B of liquid cash on a $45B business - manageable given $1.15B annual FCF (net debt paid down in under two years of FCF), but it is a constraint, not a cushion. Top-line growth is unimpressive; 2025 revenue of $6.95B is only ~10% above 2021, and 2023-2024 showed a real dip, suggesting the end-markets (bio/pharma instruments, diagnostics) are cyclical rather than compounding steadily. Insider tape is unremarkable - the 5 small sells totaling $3.1M are dominated by tax-withholding (F codes) and routine director awards; only one true open-market sale (Dolsten, $217K) appears, which is noise on a $45B cap. No directional signal, no red flag.

Strengths 4
m70
Clean earnings quality
OCF/NI 1.25x, accruals -2.8% of assets, Beneish M -2.46, Altman Z 5.8 - mechanical forensics show no manipulation flags and cash backs the reported earnings.
m62
Disciplined per-share stewardship
Diluted shares down from 307M to 285M (-1.8% CAGR); buybacks at 676% of the 1.8%-of-revenue SBC - management is a net buyer, not a diluter.
m55
Reliable FCF generation
FCF above $1B every year 2021-2025 ($1.30B, $1.02B, $1.47B, $1.37B, $1.15B), fully self-funding operations and buybacks.
m45
Stable, high margins
Gross margin 50.7-54.4% and operating margin 19.8-23.6% across five years - consistent with a differentiated instruments/diagnostics franchise.
Concerns 3
m40
Net debt position
Net cash of -$1.57B with only $1.79B liquid on hand; balance sheet is a constraint, though ~1.4 years of FCF would clear it.
m40
Sluggish, wobbly top line
Revenue only rose from $6.32B (2021) to $6.95B (2025), with an outright dip through 2023-2024 ($6.83B to $6.51B) - growth is cyclical, not compounding.
m25
Margin drift, not expansion
Operating margin ended 2025 at 21.3%, exactly where it was in 2021 despite scale - no evidence of operating leverage in recent years.
This is a textbook solid mature earner - not exciting, but genuinely well-run. The forensics are as clean as they come: cash covers earnings, insiders are behaving normally, and the share count is shrinking meaningfully. What keeps me from calling it 'Fortress' is the flatness - five years and revenue is barely up, margins have not expanded, and there's real net debt on the balance sheet. It is the kind of business that will keep printing $1B+ of FCF and buying back stock indefinitely, but I do not see the durability-plus-growth combo that defines the top tier. Strong, not elite.
Verify before trusting this (5)
  • Debt maturity schedule and refinancing risk behind the $1.57B net debt position
  • Segment-level growth to see whether any business line is masking decline in another
  • Customer/end-market concentration in bio/pharma tools given 2023-2024 revenue dip
  • Whether recent buyback pace is being funded by incremental debt or purely FCF
  • M&A activity - stagnant organic top line raises the question of acquisition dependence
Valuation / Mispricing
-76
Rich
edge √Σ 22 · risk √Σ 121 · conf 7/10
Price $159 vs deserved ~$115-130 vs composite FV $91 - roughly 20-40% overpaid depending on how much credit you give quality. attractive below $115.00

The e2e composite fair value is $91.24 (signal-adjusted $90.61) against a $159 price - implying roughly 43% downside. The DCF ($59) and EPV floor ($45) both sit far below price; only the anchored-PE method ($201) supports the tape, and that method essentially extrapolates the current multiple rather than deriving deserved value, so I discount it heavily. Company quality is genuinely Strong (clean earnings, buybacks, durable installed base), which lifts deserved value above the DCF/EPV floor - but not to $159. A fair blended deserved value for a high-quality, low-growth compounder here is probably in the $115-130 zone, meaning price still carries a ~20-30% premium with no margin of safety. What's priced in: perpetual mid-single-digit growth, sustained margins, and continued multiple support - a 'nothing goes wrong' scenario for a business whose revenue has been roughly flat for five years and whose margins have not expanded. That is the definition of paying for perfection in a mature name.

Cheap signals 1
m22
Quality genuinely supports a premium over DCF
Clean earnings, meaningful buybacks, durable CrossLab recurring revenue, and mission-critical installed base justify deserved value well above the $59 DCF - just not $159.
Rich / priced-in 4
m72
75% premium to composite fair value
$159 price vs $91.24 composite FV implies -43% upside. Even generously quality-adjusting deserved value to ~$125, the stock is still ~25% rich.
m68
DCF and EPV both far below price
DCF $59 and EPV floor $45 sit 63-72% below the tape. Two independent cash-based methods agreeing on 'expensive' is a strong signal the anchored-PE is the outlier.
m60
Priced for growth that isn't there
Bear case is correct that five years of roughly flat revenue and static margins doesn't earn a premium multiple. The market is extrapolating the pandemic-era capex cycle.
m35
Anchored-PE is a mirror, not a valuation
The $201 anchored-PE reading essentially reflects today's rich multiple applied to earnings; it validates the price rather than deriving deserved value. Discount it.
I like the business but I do not like the price. Every cash-based method screams expensive, and the only method supporting $159 is one that basically rubber-stamps the current multiple. Quality earns Agilent a premium over a naive DCF, sure - but not a 75% premium on a business with flat revenue and static margins. I'd want it in the $115 area before I got interested, and closer to $100 to load up. At $159 it's a hold-your-nose-if-you-own-it, don't-buy-it-here name.
Verify before trusting this (5)
  • Forward revenue guidance and organic growth rate - is >4% durable or a post-COVID hangover coming?
  • CrossLab / recurring revenue mix and growth vs instruments - the actual quality of the earnings stream
  • China life-sciences exposure and any signs of order normalization
  • Buyback pace vs SBC - is share-count shrink real or offset by dilution
  • Segment margin trajectory - any evidence of the mix shift finally lifting operating margin
General Sentiment
+11
Balanced
tail √Σ 67 · head √Σ 56 · conf 6/10

Agilent sits in a quiet spot on the tape. The regime is mildly risk-on (VIX ~15, S&P near highs), which is a light tailwind, but with a 1.23 beta this name is not the natural beneficiary of a melt-up the way high-torque growth would be. The active narrative is a durable, low-intensity steady-compounder story - defensive lab infrastructure, recurring CrossLab revenue - which quietly supports the quality premium the stock already carries but is not generating fresh buying pressure. Analyst tone reads as cautiously optimistic per the target-price coverage, neither a squeeze nor a de-rate catalyst. The overwhelming near-term sentiment force is the August 26 earnings print: news flow in the last 72h is entirely earnings-preview framing, and one piece explicitly flags operating levers pointing positive. That skews near-term positioning slightly hopeful, but it also concentrates risk into a single event where a 'priced for perfection' setup (per the bear frame) can punish any miss. Macro cross-currents (10y at 4.69%, market PE 25.7) are a mild background headwind for a quality-premium name whose multiple leans on low discount rates, but with durability high and cult low, there is no narrative fragility to exploit either way. Net: forces roughly offset into an event.

Tailwinds 3
m32
Risk-on tape, moderate beta
Mild risk-on regime with VIX 15 supports cyclically-tilted quality names, and A's 1.23 beta means it participates, though as a defensive healthcare name it is not a prime risk-on vehicle.
m38
Durable steady-compounder narrative
The recurring-revenue, mission-critical-infrastructure story is intact and durable with low cult risk - a quiet floor under sentiment that keeps the quality premium from cracking absent a specific catalyst.
m45
Positive earnings-preview flow
All three recent items are Aug 26 earnings previews, one explicitly bullish on operating levers. Preview flow is skewing hopeful into the print, a short-duration tailwind that reverses hard on any disappointment.
Headwinds 3
m40
Binary event risk into Aug 26
A stock trading well above DCF fair value on a 'quality tax' has asymmetric downside into earnings - the narrative is durable but the multiple is not, and sentiment can gap lower on any guidance wobble.
m30
Rates and market-PE backdrop
10y at 4.69% and market PE 25.7 are a mild but persistent headwind for premium-multiple defensives whose valuation leans on low discount rates and scarcity of quality.
m25
Cash generation weakening tag in momentum
A visible negative in the momentum read that bearish preview writers can seize on post-print; not driving price today but primes downside sensitivity to any FCF miss.
Net pressure is close to neutral with a slight positive lean going into the print. The tape is calm, the narrative is durable and quiet, and preview flow is mildly bullish - but this is a name priced for perfection walking into a binary event, and macro is a soft drag on the multiple. I would not lean on sentiment as an edge here; the story is not breaking and not accelerating. Post-Aug 26 the read could shift meaningfully in either direction, but as of now: Balanced, slight tailwind, low conviction.
Verify before trusting this (4)
  • Aug 26 earnings reaction - beat/miss magnitude and guide, and whether analyst targets get revised up or down in the 48h after
  • Whether sell-side tone shifts from 'cautiously optimistic' to outright upgrades (tailwind) or trims (headwind)
  • VIX and 10y direction - a jump in either would disproportionately pressure premium-multiple defensives
  • Any sector rotation out of life-sciences tools cohort (TMO, DHR, WAT) that would drag A regardless of its own print
The market-wide tape + this name's exposure to it (beta / sector / narrative durability). Context on the non-fundamental pressure — not a call on the business or the price. processId: detail-general-sentiment
Growth Outlook
+21
Growing
edge √Σ 108 · risk √Σ 86 · conf 7/10

The world context is mildly hostile and structurally neutral: macro headwinds with a 4.69% 10-year rate raise the bar for customer capex approvals, and academic/government research funding pressure plus China policy risk sit directly on Agilent's demand pool. Against that, lab analytics is genuinely non-discretionary at the consumable/service layer — testing volumes for drug QC, food safety and environmental compliance are regulation-driven, not sentiment-driven. So the world neither creates nor destroys Agilent's growth; it modulates the timing of instrument capex around a slowly compounding recurring base. The one genuinely structural change worth naming is the shift of pharma spend toward biologics and cell/gene modalities, which favors mass-spec and bioanalytical workflows where Agilent has been taking share — that is the mechanism behind the current outgrowth, and it does not evaporate with the rate cycle.

Growth drivers 4
m63
Instrument replacement cycle inflecting up
Two consecutive quarters at +8.5% revenue after years of ~1% CAGR is the signature of a deferred-capex cycle turning: pharma and applied labs that pushed out LC/MS and GC refreshes through the post-COVID digestion are re-ordering. Instruments are the volatile, high-beta half of the mix, so the swing from destocking drag to replacement demand is mechanically the largest single contributor to the current acceleration.
m56
Recurring CrossLab / consumables base
Roughly half of revenue is service contracts, columns, supplies and software attached to a large installed base — this is the annuity that produced positive growth even in the flat years and it compounds with each instrument placed in the current upcycle. It sets a floor under the revenue line that makes 'Shrinking' unlikely absent a genuine lab-spending recession.
m50
Documented share gain inside a flat category
Recent YoY 6.7% versus industry 3.4% is a +3.3pp gap in a category whose long-run revenue CAGR is only 1.7%. Outgrowing the market by ~2x in a mature category points to portfolio/position strength (mass spec, CrossLab attach) rather than tide-riding.
m45
Operating leverage and cost-program flow-through
Operating income +11.2% and net income +20.8% on +8.5% revenue means incremental margin plus below-the-line help (interest/tax/buyback) are amplifying modest top-line growth into materially faster EPS — visible in four EPS beats in the last five prints, with beat magnitude widening to +6% and +8%.
Growth risks 4
m46
Cash generation has not tracked earnings
FCF CAGR of -11.6% against a 2.5% earnings CAGR is the most uncomfortable number in the file. If the earnings acceleration is being funded by working-capital build or is offset by capex, the 'growth' is less durable than the P&L suggests, and structural earnings power grows slower than reported EPS.
m42
Mature category and industry-wide margin compression
Category median growth is 3.9% and industry revenue CAGR 1.7%, with operating margins down 2.5pp industry-wide over three years. That is a competitive-intensity signal: pricing power in instruments is limited, so Agilent's outgrowth must be earned every cycle rather than inherited.
m48
Customer funding concentration: pharma capex, China, academic budgets
Demand is levered to biopharma R&D budgets, Chinese stimulus/tender timing, and government/academic research funding — all of which can reverse in a single budgeting cycle and all of which are currently under macro-headwind conditions (10y at 4.69%). The prior flat years show how quickly this business goes to zero growth when capex pauses.
m36
Low revenue confidence / decelerating quarterly trend flag
House diagnostics show 5.7% volatility, a decelerating quarterly trend and not all years positive. The current 8.5% is a cyclical amplitude reading, not a new baseline — extrapolating it forward is the classic error in instrument names.
vs expectations: ~6m above · 1y inline · 2-3y below
The forward growth verdict — is the business itself likely to grow (next 2 quarters / year 1 / years 2–3), judged against its category and against printed expectations. The full horizon ladder + creme renders on the Growth Outlook card above. Not a call on the price (Valuation owns that) or the tape (Sentiment owns that).
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Lenses kept deliberately separate — Company Quality (price-agnostic), Valuation (price-conditional), General Sentiment (non-fundamental macro/narrative pressure), and Growth Outlook (the forward growth verdict). The scores are not blended. Filing-level items (convertibles, lock-ups, customer concentration) are v2 — see each lens's "verify."
Price Prediction
Lower -8.8% v0.6.0 View full prediction →

When we made this prediction on Aug 23, 2026, A was $159.00. We expect it to be $145.00 by Feb 2027, and we consider it great value under $115.00. This is an early model (v0.6.0) — the direction is more reliable than the exact price. Made Aug 23, 2026.

Price when predicted$159.00
Our estimate for Feb 2027$145.00-8.8%
Great value below$115.00
Price history shown (6 Months)

Blue is our prediction, starting the day we made it. Grey is a slower route to the same place — the same destination, taking longer. Black is the actual price, so you can see how we are doing.

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My Notes personal — only you see this
v1.1.562 · 9b2927c4 · 2026-08-22 16:52:06