• Revenue: $1.67 billion, representing 6% reported growth and 5.3% core growth year-over-year.

• Operating Margin: 25.1%, absorbing incremental tariff costs.

• Earnings Per Share (EPS): $1.31, a 7% increase compared to the second quarter of 2024.

• Gross Margin: 54.1%, impacted by tariffs, currency, and product mix.

• Agilent CrossLab Group Revenue: $713 million, 9% growth driven by consumables and automation.

• Life Sciences and Diagnostics Market Group Revenue: $654 million, 3% growth with strong performance in Pathology and NASD.

• Applied Markets Group Revenue: $301 million, flat on a core growth basis.

• Cash Flow from Operations: $221 million.

• Capital Expenditures: $114 million.

• Share Repurchases: $165 million.

• Dividends Paid: $70 million.

• Net Leverage Ratio: 1.

• Full Year Revenue Guidance: Increased to $6.73 billion to $6.81 billion, reflecting a 3.4% to 4.6% reported growth.

• Full Year EPS Guidance: $5.54 to $5.61, representing a 4.7% to 6% increase year-over-year.

• Tariff Impact: $50 million gross incremental exposure in the second half of fiscal year 2025, with mitigation strategies in place.

• Warning! GuruFocus has detected 5 Warning Sign with SQM.

Release Date: May 28, 2025

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Positive Points

• Agilent Technologies Inc (NYSE:A) reported strong second-quarter results with revenue of $1.67 billion, representing a 6% increase year-over-year.

• The company achieved an operating margin of 25.1% despite absorbing incremental tariff costs.

• Agilent's EPS grew by 7% compared to the second quarter of 2024, marking the fourth consecutive quarter of accelerating growth.

• The company saw growth across all regions, with China leading at 10% growth, and strong performance in India with high teens growth.

• Agilent's PFAS testing business grew more than 70% year-over-year globally, contributing significantly to the company's growth.

Negative Points

• The academia and government end market declined modestly, with a 2% decrease in the quarter.

• Biopharma growth was slower, with low single-digit growth due to funding challenges in small and midsized biotech, primarily in the US.

• The company faced a mid-single-digit decline in its NGS business.

• Agilent had to absorb 55 basis points of incremental tariff costs, impacting gross margins.

• The company anticipates potential additional tariff impacts if US-EU tariffs increase, which could add $40 million in gross exposure in the second half of the year.

Q & A Highlights

Q: Can you provide insights into the order trends during the quarter, especially considering the impact of pharma tariffs? A: Padraig McDonnell, CEO, explained that the book-to-bill ratio was greater than one, with orders growing low single digits in Q2 and mid-single digits for the first half. There was no significant pull forward from pharma, and the business remained stable across regions. The consumables pull forward was offset by customs issues, which have now normalized.