- Guardant Health ( NASDAQ: GH ) earlier briefly ticked higher, now down 2.1%, amid speculation it could be a possible takeover target for Agilent Technologies ( NYSE: A ).
- Guardant Health ( GH ) shares ticked higher amid a Gordon Haskett note that speculated the company could be a potential target for Agilent ( A ), which has indicated it could be looking at possible M&A transactions.
- Gordon Haskett's Don Bilson highlighted that as late as Thursday Agilent's CEO Mike McMullen said at Goldman Sachs healthcare conference that the company is open to doing friendly acquisitions of public companies. The CEO also said that seller expectations have come down.
- Bilson also pointed out that the Agilent CEO said at another conference last year that Agilent ( A ) could do deals in the $4 billion to $6 billion range. Guardant ( GH ) has a market cap of $2.8 billion.
- Guardant ( GH ) could be a possible target for Agilent ( A ) after the shares plummeted 73% last year. Guardant plunged 27% on Dec. 16 after releasing results from a pivotal study of its blood test for colorectal cancer in average-risk adults.
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Guardant Health briefly ticks higher on takeover speculation