Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) reported first-quarter fiscal 2026 revenue of $1.8 billion, with core growth of 4.4% and reported growth of 7%, as management described a “solid start” to the year amid a generally improving but dynamic market backdrop. The quarter included an estimated $10 million revenue impact tied to a winter storm that disrupted shipments from the company’s Memphis logistics hub during the final week of January, which executives said is typically the busiest shipping week of the quarter.
CEO Padraig McDonnell said the majority of the storm-related revenue was recovered at the beginning of February, and CFO Adam Elinoff later added in Q&A that “the vast majority” has already come back, with some remaining recovery taking longer due to the timing of services work. McDonnell said operating margins were “in line with our expectations,” and the company reiterated its full-year core growth outlook of 4% to 6%.
Quarterly results and segment performance
By segment, management highlighted the following results:
- Agilent CrossLab Group (ACG): revenue grew 6%, driven by high single-digit consumables growth, solid services performance, and “balanced growth globally.”
- Applied Markets Group (AMG): revenue grew 4%, ahead of expectations, led by double-digit spectroscopy growth supported by semiconductor-related demand.
- Life Sciences and Diagnostics Group (LDG): revenue grew 3%, below expectations, with management citing the weather disruption and continued softness in academia and government affecting cell analysis and genomics.
Geographically, Elinoff said Asia was the strongest region, with China up 6% and the rest of Asia up 13%. Europe grew 4% but was “a bit slower than expected” as tariff-related discussions caused some customers to delay purchases late in the quarter. The Americas grew 1%, which management attributed to the storm and “pockets of softness” in smaller end markets.
End market trends and product momentum
McDonnell said demand trends in major end markets were largely consistent with expectations, with continued support from secular drivers such as reshoring of pharmaceutical and semiconductor manufacturing, GLP-1 related activity, and liquid and gas chromatography (LC and GC) replacement cycles.
In pharma, McDonnell said growth was 7%, including double-digit growth in biotech. He also highlighted “excellent GLP-1 growth of 50%,” with contributions from the company’s specialty CDMO and analytical lab business. Specialty CDMO grew low double digits in the quarter, and management maintained its expectation for mid-teens growth for the full year.
Chemicals and advanced materials (CAM) grew 9%, which McDonnell said was above expectations, driven by advanced materials growth of more than 20%. He linked performance to investment by semiconductor manufacturers, citing memory chip shortages and efforts to bolster supply chain independence, which he said benefited demand for Agilent’s atomic spectroscopy tools.
Diagnostics and clinical grew 7% again in the quarter, which management said was supported by the Omnis family launch. Environmental and forensics was flat, with softness in U.S. and China government funding offset by growth in other parts of Asia and Europe. Food declined 4% but outperformed internal expectations, with low double-digit growth outside China; management noted the category had been a major beneficiary of China stimulus in the prior-year period. Academia and government fell 8%, more than expected, as customers prioritized operating budgets over new capital equipment purchases.
Management said instrument results remained supported by replacement cycles, noting the instrument book-to-bill has been at or above 1 for eight consecutive quarters. McDonnell said LC instrument growth was in the high single digits and that Agilent was gaining share globally, while GC instrument growth was low single digits against a difficult comparison tied to last year’s China stimulus.
Innovation, services, and the Ignite operating system
McDonnell emphasized three areas he said are supporting Agilent’s growth: customer intimacy through services, new product innovation, and the Ignite operating system.
On services, he highlighted enterprise services as a strategic differentiator, describing it as roughly 10% of total services revenue and growing at a low double-digit CAGR. McDonnell said Agilent has agreements with “nearly all of the top 20 biopharma companies” and has won 18 competitive displacements across end markets over the past three years. The offerings include on-site support technicians and digital capabilities through CrossLab Connect for monitoring and analytics.
On innovation, McDonnell pointed to several launches and early traction, including the Altura ultra-inert column portfolio, the Pro iQ LC-MS, and additions in cancer diagnostics and spectroscopy. He said half of the top 20 biopharma companies have ordered Altura columns since launch and that Altura more than doubled bio column growth to over 30%. He also cited a new Altura column designed for PFAS workflows, and said Pro iQ is gaining traction, with the single quad family growing more than 40% in the quarter.
In security-related spectroscopy, McDonnell said Agilent’s Rampant Insight BRT Series alarm resolution system helped secure a $9 million TSA contract during the quarter, and he expressed confidence in competing for larger aviation security tenders over time.
McDonnell and Elinoff also discussed Ignite, which they said has improved pricing realization, procurement savings, organizational simplification, and tariff mitigation. McDonnell said Ignite supported nearly 200 basis points of pricing in the most recent quarter and contributed to an updated agilent.com website launch that helped drive digital orders at more than twice the overall order book growth rate.
Guidance and key watch items for 2026
Agilent maintained its full-year core revenue growth outlook of 4% to 6%. Due to foreign exchange changes, Elinoff said the company now expects fiscal 2026 reported revenue of $7.3 billion to $7.5 billion, with currency expected to be a 1.5% tailwind for the year. Full-year non-GAAP EPS guidance was raised by $0.04 to $5.90 to $6.04, which management said reflects a more favorable currency outlook.
For the second quarter, Agilent guided to reported revenue of $1.79 billion to $1.82 billion, representing core growth of about 4% to 5.5%, including weather-delayed revenue from the first quarter. Second-quarter non-GAAP EPS is expected to be $1.39 to $1.42, and Elinoff said the company expects operating margin to improve by about 100 basis points sequentially.
On tariffs, Elinoff said the company’s full-year guide does not assume material changes in tariff rates relative to the view at the start of the year, and management reiterated expectations to fully offset tariff impacts over the course of the year through cost savings and pricing actions. In Q&A, executives said the cadence of margin expansion is expected to accelerate in the second half as tariffs are “fully mitigated,” aided by volume leverage, pricing, and Ignite savings, though partially offset by investments and people costs.
Agilent also reiterated its capital deployment framework, emphasizing organic investment, strategic M&A, capacity expansion, and returning excess capital via dividends and share repurchases. Elinoff said the company does not need a transformative deal to achieve its growth ambitions, and that the bar remains high for large transactions, with a focus on strategic fit, integration capability, and returns above hurdle rates.
About Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A)
Agilent Technologies is a global provider of scientific instrumentation, consumables, software and services for laboratories across the life sciences, diagnostics and applied chemical markets. The company’s product portfolio includes analytical instruments such as liquid and gas chromatographs, mass spectrometers, spectroscopy systems, and laboratory automation solutions, together with reagents, supplies and informatics tools that support measurement, testing and data analysis workflows. Agilent also offers instrument maintenance, qualification and laboratory services designed to help customers improve productivity and comply with regulatory requirements.
Founded as a corporate spin-off from Hewlett?Packard in 1999, Agilent has evolved through a combination of strategic restructuring and acquisitions to concentrate on life sciences, diagnostics and applied laboratories.
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