Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) delivered fiscal third-quarter revenue of $1.88 billion, an increase of 8.1% from a year earlier. Core revenue, which excludes currency movements and recent acquisitions and divestitures, grew 7.3%. The company-defined non-GAAP operating margin of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) reached 28.3%, expanding 320 basis points year over year.
Approximately 110 basis points of that improvement came from tariff refunds. The refunds also contributed $17 million to company-defined non-GAAP net income and approximately $0.06 to non-GAAP earnings per share. Separating that benefit from the operating progress of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) leaves a quarter that was still strong, although the reported margin and earnings acceleration should not be viewed as entirely repeatable.
The company-defined non-GAAP operating margin of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) excludes restructuring and related costs, intangible-asset amortization, transformation initiatives, and acquisition and integration costs. Company-defined non-GAAP EPS also incorporates adjustments for certain items outside operating income and their associated tax effects, so the two measures do not have identical exclusions.
Bull Case
Excluding the tariff refunds, the third-quarter company-defined non-GAAP operating-margin expansion of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) would have been approximately 210 basis points. That represents substantial underlying improvement, supported by higher revenue, operating leverage, and efficiencies associated with the Ignite operating system.
Demand also appeared broad-based. The Life Sciences and Diagnostics Markets Group grew revenue 11% to $746 million, including 10% core growth. Agilent CrossLab revenue increased 6% to $786 million, while Applied Markets revenue rose 7% to $346 million.
All three segments reported higher operating margins under the management-reporting system of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A). Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) notes that these segment measures are not necessarily prepared in conformity with GAAP, but the direction of the improvement supports the view that operating leverage extended beyond a single business.
The stronger indication of durability comes from the full-year outlook. Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) expects company-defined non-GAAP operating-margin expansion of more than 130 basis points, including approximately 30 basis points from the third-quarter tariff refunds. That implies more than 100 basis points of full-year expansion excluding the refund benefit.
Bear Case
The refund still made the quarter look stronger than normalized performance. Company-defined non-GAAP EPS of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) increased 18% to $1.62 from $1.37. Excluding the $0.06 refund benefit, company-defined non-GAAP EPS would have been approximately $1.56, representing growth of about 14%.
Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) raised fiscal 2026 company-defined non-GAAP EPS guidance to $6.18-$6.21, an increase of $0.15 at the midpoint. Because that increase includes the $0.06 refund benefit already recorded, investors should not attribute the entire guidance raise to improved underlying operations.
Fourth-quarter guidance from Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) calls for revenue of $1.98 billion-$2.00 billion, core growth of 5.2%-6.2% and company-defined non-GAAP EPS of $1.71-$1.74. Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) excludes any future tariff-refund benefits from that outlook, making the fourth quarter a cleaner test of operating momentum.
Hedge Fund Sentiment
The filings available so far reflect positions held before Agilent reported its recent results. Insider Monkey’s database showed 62 hedge funds holding Agilent at the end of 2Q2026, down from 63 funds three months earlier.
Conclusion
The third-quarter improvement of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) was not solely a refund story. Removing the tariff benefit still leaves approximately 210 basis points of underlying quarterly margin expansion. However, that figure reflects one quarter rather than a demonstrated recurring run rate. The more credible durability reference is the full-year outlook of Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A), which implies more than 100 basis points of company-defined non-GAAP operating-margin expansion excluding tariff refunds.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
