William Blair Has Negative Forecast for Novanta Q1 Earnings

Novanta Inc. (NASDAQ:NOVT) – Equities researchers at William Blair cut their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for Novanta in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, February 25th. William Blair analyst B. Drab now anticipates that the technology company will post earnings per share of $0.68 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.78. The consensus estimate for Novanta’s current full-year earnings is $3.03 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Novanta’s Q2 2025 earnings at $0.76 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $0.96 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $1.08 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $3.48 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $4.15 EPS.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The technology company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. Novanta had a net margin of 6.52% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The business had revenue of $238.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $240.29 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.63 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis.

Separately, Robert W. Baird cut their price target on Novanta from $175.00 to $169.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, November 6th.

Novanta Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NOVT opened at $149.30 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $149.13 and a 200 day moving average of $164.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The company has a market capitalization of $5.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 89.40 and a beta of 1.28. Novanta has a 52 week low of $137.91 and a 52 week high of $187.12.

Institutional Trading of Novanta

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of NOVT. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Novanta during the 4th quarter worth approximately $48,442,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Novanta by 69.9% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 680,169 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $103,910,000 after purchasing an additional 279,793 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Novanta during the fourth quarter worth $15,104,000. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Novanta by 52.5% during the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 271,583 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $41,359,000 after purchasing an additional 93,511 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Novanta by 2,714.7% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 88,297 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,489,000 after purchasing an additional 85,160 shares in the last quarter. 98.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Novanta

Novanta, Inc engages in the provision of core technology solutions to healthcare and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers. It operates through the following segments: Photonics, Vision, and Precision Motion. The Photonics segment designs, manufactures, and markets photonics-based solutions, including laser scanning and laser beam delivery, CO2 laser, continuous wave and ultrafast laser, and optical light engine products.