Life sciences company Avantor (NYSE: AVTR) reported Q1 CY2026 results beating Wall Street’s revenue expectations, but sales were flat year on year at $1.58 billion. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.17 per share was 8.4% above analysts’ consensus estimates.

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RADNOR, Pa., April 29, 2026 /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 reported financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2026."First quarter results exceeded our expectations due to improved execution in Bioscience and Medtech Products, and we saw stabilization in VWR," said Emmanuel Ligner, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Company Overview

With roots dating back to 1904 and embedded in virtually every stage of scientific research and production, Avantor (NYSE: AVTR) provides mission-critical products, materials, and services to customers in biopharma, healthcare, education, and advanced technology industries.

Revenue Growth

Examining a company’s long-term performance can provide clues about its quality. Any business can put up a good quarter or two, but many enduring ones grow for years. Unfortunately, Avantor struggled to consistently increase demand as its $6.55 billion of sales for the trailing 12 months was close to its revenue five years ago. This wasn’t a great result and suggests it’s a low quality business.

We at StockStory place the most emphasis on long-term growth, but within healthcare, a half-decade historical view may miss recent innovations or disruptive industry trends. Avantor’s recent performance shows its demand remained suppressed as its revenue has declined by 2.3% annually over the last two years.

Avantor also reports organic revenue, which strips out one-time events like acquisitions and currency fluctuations that don’t accurately reflect its fundamentals. Over the last two years, Avantor’s organic revenue averaged 2.1% year-on-year declines. Because this number aligns with its two-year revenue growth, we can see the company’s core operations (not acquisitions and divestitures) drove most of its results.

This quarter, Avantor’s $1.58 billion of revenue was flat year on year but beat Wall Street’s estimates by 2.7%.

Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to remain flat over the next 12 months. Although this projection implies its newer products and services will spur better top-line performance, it is still below average for the sector.

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Adjusted Operating Margin

Adjusted operating margin is a key measure of profitability. Think of it as net income (the bottom line) excluding the impact of non-recurring expenses, taxes, and interest on debt - metrics less connected to business fundamentals.

Avantor has managed its cost base well over the last five years. It demonstrated solid profitability for a healthcare business, producing an average adjusted operating margin of 17%.

Analyzing the trend in its profitability, Avantor’s adjusted operating margin decreased by 5.1 percentage points over the last five years. The company’s two-year trajectory also shows it failed to get its profitability back to the peak as its margin fell by 2.9 percentage points. This performance was poor no matter how you look at it - it shows its expenses were rising and it couldn’t pass those costs onto its customers.

In Q1, Avantor generated an adjusted operating margin profit margin of 12.1%, down 3.3 percentage points year on year. This contraction shows it was less efficient because its expenses increased relative to its revenue.

Earnings Per Share

We track the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) for the same reason as long-term revenue growth. Compared to revenue, however, EPS highlights whether a company’s growth is profitable.

Sadly for Avantor, its EPS declined by 4.5% annually over the last five years while its revenue was flat. This tells us the company struggled because its fixed cost base made it difficult to adjust to choppy demand.

We can take a deeper look into Avantor’s earnings to better understand the drivers of its performance. As we mentioned earlier, Avantor’s adjusted operating margin declined by 5.1 percentage points over the last five years. Its share count also grew by 14.9%, meaning the company not only became less efficient with its operating expenses but also diluted its shareholders.

In Q1, Avantor reported adjusted EPS of $0.17, down from $0.23 in the same quarter last year. Despite falling year on year, this print beat analysts’ estimates by 8.4%. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Avantor’s full-year EPS of $0.85 to shrink by 3.5%.

Key Takeaways from Avantor’s Q1 Results

We enjoyed seeing Avantor beat analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also happy its organic revenue narrowly outperformed Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, we think this was a solid quarter with some key areas of upside. The stock traded up 4.2% to $8.19 immediately after reporting.

Avantor may have had a good quarter, but does that mean you should invest right now? We think that the latest quarter is only one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).