What Happened?
Shares of life sciences company Avantor (NYSE: AVTR) jumped 4.8% in the afternoon session after a director purchased a significant amount of company stock, signaling strong insider confidence.
Director Gregory L Summe bought 100,000 shares of Avantor common stock for a total value of $1,125,000. This substantial purchase increased the director's direct ownership to 58,111 shares, in addition to 300,000 shares held indirectly through a trust. Such a large buy from a key insider was often viewed by investors as a vote of confidence in the company's future.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Avantor’s shares are very volatile and have had 20 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 2 days ago when the stock dropped 17.4% on the news that the company reported disappointing third-quarter 2025 results that missed revenue expectations and included a significant loss. The life sciences company’s sales fell 5.3% year on year to $1.62 billion, falling short of analyst estimates. Adjusted earnings per share of $0.22 also missed expectations. The quarter was marked by a substantial operating loss, driven by a large non-cash goodwill impairment charge, which caused the operating margin to plummet to -40%. To add to the concerns, organic revenue, which excludes currency impacts and acquisitions, declined 4.7%, a worse result than Wall Street had anticipated.
Avantor is down 44.7% since the beginning of the year, and at $11.73 per share, it is trading 49% below its 52-week high of $22.99 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Avantor’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $500.85.
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