Echo Street Capital Management: Greg Poole’s Top 5 Stock Picks

4. Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A)

Echo Street Capital’s Stake Value: $227,464,000

Percentage of Echo Street Capital’s 13F Portfolio: 1.75%

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 39

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) is a global provider of laboratory equipment and specialized solutions, which help improve the efficiency of the laboratory processes, from sample prep to data management and analysis. Echo Street Capital Management owns 1.53 million shares in Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A), amounting to $227.4 million. This stock accounts for 1.75% of the firm’s portfolio for the second quarter. 

Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) declared a quarterly dividend of $0.194 per share, payable on October 27 to shareholders on record as of October 5. 

Cowen analyst Dan Brennan kept an Outperform rating on Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) on October 14, lowering the price target from $200 to $180. 

At the end of June this year, 39 hedge funds were long Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A), down from 42 in the previous quarter. 

Here is what Pershing Square Holdings has to say about Agilent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:A) in its Q2 2021 investor letter:

“Our large commitment to UMG required that we raise cash from the sale of one of our other investments. In light of the high quality of companies in our portfolio, this was a difficult decision to make. Ultimately, we chose to sell Agilent, as its current share price approached our conservative estimate of intrinsic value. If we did not need the capital, we would not have sold the stock.

Agilent has been a highly successful investment since our original purchase nearly two years ago, compounded by our additional investment in the company in the Covid market decline last year. Agilent’s stock price has increased 2.2 times since our initial purchase as a result of the company’s acceleration in revenue growth and profitability.10 Agilent has been a critical supplier of technology and services to labs around the world fighting the Covid pandemic. The company’s management team led by Mike McMullen deserves enormous credit for the company’s success and for its important contribution to science and the fight against Covid for which we all should be extremely grateful.”