Latest news with #Avantor
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Avantor (AVTR) Stock Is Trading Up Today
What Happened? Shares of life sciences company Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) jumped 6.1% in the morning session after activist investor Engine Capital disclosed it is pushing the company to explore a potential sale or make other strategic changes to boost shareholder value. In a letter to Avantor's board, activist investor Engine Capital, which revealed a 3% stake, suggested the life sciences company could be worth $17 to $19 per share in a sale. Alternatively, Engine Capital outlined recommendations, including refreshing the board and selling non-core assets, that it believes could drive the share price as high as $26 by the end of 2027. In response, Avantor reaffirmed its commitment to creating shareholder value, highlighting a $400 million cost-cutting program and a reduction in debt by nearly $1.5 billion over the last 18 months. The company also confirmed that Emmanuel Ligner is set to take over as CEO on August 18. Is now the time to buy Avantor? Access our full analysis report here, it's free. What Is The Market Telling Us Avantor's shares are somewhat volatile and have had 13 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today's move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business. The previous big move we wrote about was 10 days ago when the stock dropped 15.5% on the news that the company reported disappointing second-quarter results and cut its full-year financial forecast. The company's adjusted earnings per share of $0.24 missed analyst expectations, while revenue slipped 1% to $1.68 billion. Profitability saw a sharp decline as net income fell to $64.7 million from $92.9 million in the same quarter of the previous year. The company's Laboratory Solutions division, a key revenue source, recorded a 3% drop in sales. Compounding these issues, Avantor lowered its financial projections for the full year, signaling to investors that it anticipated these headwinds would continue. The combination of missing current earnings and lowering future guidance prompted the negative investor reaction. Avantor is down 42% since the beginning of the year, and at $12.29 per share, it is trading 55.6% below its 52-week high of $27.70 from September 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Avantor's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $604.64. Unless you've been living under a rock, it should be obvious by now that generative AI is going to have a huge impact on how large corporations do business. While Nvidia and AMD are trading close to all-time highs, we prefer a lesser-known (but still profitable) semiconductor stock benefiting from the rise of AI. Click here to access our free report on our favorite semiconductor growth story. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Avantor® Reiterates Shareholder Value Creation Focus
Emmanuel Ligner, Seasoned Leader with Proven Track Record of Value Creation in Life Sciences, to Begin Role as CEO Next Week RADNOR, Pa., Aug. 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Avantor, Inc. (NYSE: AVTR), a leading global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the life sciences and advanced technology industries, today issued the following statement in response to the letter issued by Engine Capital: The Board of Directors is actively engaged in overseeing the setting and execution of the Company's strategy and is committed to always acting in the best interests of the Company and its shareholders. As such, we regularly review the Company's strategic priorities with an eye towards driving growth, expanding margins, and creating sustained shareholder value. Avantor is uniquely positioned for success based on the breadth of our portfolio to address the research and production environment, our global distribution platform, and our long-standing customer relationships across the life sciences industry. We are acting with urgency to strengthen growth and profitability in both Laboratory Solutions and Bioscience Production. Over the past 18 months, the Board has overseen the change to a new Chief Executive Officer and a new leader in Lab Solutions, the successful launch of a $400 million cost transformation program, increased transparency and accountability through the resegmentation of the business, and continued portfolio optimization. Further, the Board has overseen a focused capital allocation strategy to reduce leverage by nearly $1.5 billion over the past 18 months. We are confident in our ability to accelerate execution of our value creation initiatives under the leadership of Emmanuel Ligner, who will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer on August 18, 2025. We look forward to an ongoing dialogue with all our shareholders, including Engine Capital. Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC and Gordon Dyal & Co. are serving as Avantor's financial advisors and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is serving as legal counsel. Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher is serving as strategic communications advisor. About Avantor Avantor® is a leading life science tools company and global provider of mission-critical products and services to the life sciences and advanced technology industries. We work side-by-side with customers at every step of the scientific journey to enable breakthroughs in medicine, healthcare, and technology. Our portfolio is used in virtually every stage of the most important research, development and production activities at more than 300,000 customer locations in 180 countries. For more information, visit and find us on LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and Facebook. Forward-Looking and Cautionary StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are subject to the safe harbor created thereby under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this press release are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements discuss our current expectations and projections relating to our financial condition, results of operations, plans, including our cost transformation initiative, objectives, future performance and business. These statements may be preceded by, followed by or include the words "aim," "anticipate," "assumption," "believe," "continue," "estimate," "expect," "forecast," "goal," "guidance," "intend," "likely," "long-term," "near-term," "objective," "opportunity," "outlook," "plan," "potential," "project," "projection," "prospects," "seek," "target," "trend," "can," "could," "may," "should," "would," "will," the negatives thereof and other words and terms of similar meaning. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions; they are not guarantees of performance. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. Although we believe that our assumptions made in connection with the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot assure you that the assumptions and expectations will prove to be correct. Factors that could contribute to these risks, uncertainties and assumptions include, but are not limited to, the factors described in "Risk Factors" in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, as such risk factors may be updated from time to time in our periodic filings with the SEC. All forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements. In addition, all forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligations to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise other than as required under the federal securities laws. Investor Relations ContactAllison HosakSenior Vice President, Global Media ContactEric Van ZantenHead of External Joe Sala / Melissa JohnsonJoele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher(212) 355-4449jsala@ or mjohnson@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Avantor and Financial News Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Activist investor Engine Capital urges Avantor to refresh board with new directors
(Reuters) -Activist investor Engine Capital has urged medical equipment maker Avantor to refresh its board with new directors, a letter on Monday showed. Shares of Avantor rose 10.4% in premarketing trading. Engine Capital owns about 3% of the outstanding shares of Avantor. The activist investor highlighted the company's challenges over the last five years, including repeated cuts to the company's financial forecasts and consistent underperformance versus investor expectations, according to the letter. "We believe the board is responsible for Avantor's underperformance and has, in our opinion, failed to adequately oversee the company's operations, management, capital allocation and succession planning," Engine Capital said in the letter. Avantor did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment. Sign in to access your portfolio
Reuters
12 hours ago
- Automotive
- Reuters
Activist investor Engine Capital urges Avantor to refresh board with new directors
Aug 11 (Reuters) - Activist investor Engine Capital has urged medical equipment maker Avantor (AVTR.N), opens new tab to refresh its board with new directors, a letter on Monday showed. Shares of Avantor rose 10.4% in premarketing trading. Engine Capital owns about 3% of the outstanding shares of Avantor. The activist investor highlighted the company's challenges over the last five years, including repeated cuts to the company's financial forecasts and consistent underperformance versus investor expectations, according to the letter. "We believe the board is responsible for Avantor's underperformance and has, in our opinion, failed to adequately oversee the company's operations, management, capital allocation and succession planning," Engine Capital said in the letter. Avantor did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Engine Capital builds stake in Avantor, plans to push it to sell itself, WSJ reports
(Reuters) -Activist investor Engine Capital has built a stake in Avantor and plans to push the life-sciences company to sell itself or make other changes, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter. Engine could reveal its roughly 3% stake in Avantor on Monday, the newspaper reported, adding that the activist investor thinks the entire company could sell for between $17 and $19 per share. Reuters could not immediately confirm the report. Avantor and Engine Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours. Avantor has a market value of $7.84 billion, and its shares have fallen by more than 45% this year to about $11.5, as of Friday's close, according to LSEG data. The company said in its first-quarter earnings report in April that it has faced a reduction in demand, particularly in the government and education market, after changes in the government policy. These include the administration blocking funding for a swathe of public-health programs run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Engine thinks Avantor shares could trade as high as $26 by the end of 2027, the WSJ report said. The investment firm believes that Radnor, Pennsylvania-based Avantor should either pursue an immediate sale or implement changes such as cost cuts, divesting non-core assets, board refresh or increasing stock buybacks, according to the report. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
