What is Zacks Research’s Forecast for Avantor Q1 Earnings?

Avantor, Inc. (NYSE:AVTR) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research cut their Q1 2026 earnings estimates for shares of Avantor in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, March 5th. Zacks Research analyst Team now expects that the company will post earnings per share of $0.17 for the quarter, down from their prior estimate of $0.20. Zacks Research has a “Strong Sell” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Avantor’s current full-year earnings is $1.06 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Avantor’s Q2 2026 earnings at $0.20 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $0.21 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $0.81 EPS, Q1 2027 earnings at $0.21 EPS, Q2 2027 earnings at $0.16 EPS, Q3 2027 earnings at $0.23 EPS, Q4 2027 earnings at $0.22 EPS, FY2027 earnings at $0.82 EPS and FY2028 earnings at $0.84 EPS.

Avantor (NYSE:AVTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 11th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Avantor had a negative net margin of 8.09% and a positive return on equity of 10.45%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. Avantor has set its FY 2026 guidance at 0.770-0.830 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on AVTR. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Avantor from $13.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $8.50 price objective on shares of Avantor in a research report on Friday. Robert W. Baird set a $11.00 price objective on shares of Avantor in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $8.00 price target on shares of Avantor in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Avantor in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.80.

Avantor Stock Down 4.0%

Shares of NYSE AVTR opened at $8.18 on Friday. Avantor has a 12-month low of $8.14 and a 12-month high of $18.02. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $10.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.58 billion, a PE ratio of -10.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 1.78, a quick ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Insider Activity at Avantor

In other Avantor news, Director Gregory L. Summe purchased 100,000 shares of Avantor stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 12th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $9.40 per share, with a total value of $940,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,760,000. This represents a 33.33% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory T. Lucier acquired 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 19th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $9.16 per share, with a total value of $458,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 50,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $458,000. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dodge & Cox grew its position in Avantor by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 117,746,888 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,469,481,000 after purchasing an additional 313,404 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,988,977 shares of the company’s stock valued at $823,542,000 after buying an additional 1,135,279 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Avantor by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 34,548,129 shares of the company’s stock valued at $431,161,000 after buying an additional 3,356,861 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Avantor in the fourth quarter worth about $268,584,000. Finally, Greenhaven Associates Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Avantor by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 20,500,653 shares of the company’s stock worth $234,937,000 after buying an additional 2,189,083 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.08% of the company’s stock.

More Avantor News

Here are the key news stories impacting Avantor this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Barclays reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and set a $8.50 price target (small upside relative to the current price), signaling limited near-term upside and continued cautious analyst positioning. Barclays Reaffirmation
• Neutral Sentiment: A recent Yahoo Finance piece outlines how analysts are resetting fair-value targets for Avantor, documenting the shift in analyst views but not pointing to an immediate positive catalyst. How The Avantor Story Is Shifting
• Negative Sentiment: Unusually large put-option volume: investors bought ~94,708 puts (up ~1,582% vs. typical), indicating significant bearish positioning or hedging activity that can amplify downside volatility.
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research issued a wave of cuts to quarterly and full-year EPS estimates, downgraded multiple forward-quarter forecasts and assigned AVTR a “Strong Sell” / Zacks Rank #5 — a material negative read on near-term fundamentals and sentiment. Zacks Adds AVTR to Strong Sell List

Avantor Company Profile

Avantor, Inc (NYSE:AVTR) is a global provider of mission-critical products and services to customers in the biopharma, healthcare, education & government, and advanced technologies & applied materials industries. The company delivers essential solutions that support research, development, production and safety applications. Its product portfolio spans from high-purity chemicals and reagents to biologics and cell culture media, as well as lab equipment, consumables and custom manufacturing services.

Avantor’s offerings are organized across two primary segments.