Key Takeaways
- Avient shares fell 7% today after the company said CEO Ashish Khandpur had stepped down, effective immediately, and named UPL Corporation CEO Mike Frank to replace him.
- The selloff looks like an overreaction, since Avient reaffirmed its third-quarter and full-year 2026 guidance on the same morning.
- Analysts expect normalized EPS to grow from $2.82 in fiscal 2025 to $3.91 in fiscal 2028, and the release gives no reason for Khandpur’s exit.
- The first test comes on Nov. 4, when Avient reports a third quarter it has guided to about $0.80 of adjusted EPS.
Avient (AVNT) shares are down 7% today. This morning, before the open, the company said that CEO Ashish Khandpur had stepped down, effective immediately.
His replacement is Mike Frank, who has more than 30 years in agricultural chemicals and had been CEO of UPL Corporation since 2022.
An outsider with a clear brief
Frank spent 25 years at Monsanto, where his last role was global chief commercial officer. He then ran Nutrien Ag Solutions from 2017 to 2021 before moving to UPL, a crop protection company with $5 billion in revenue. Khandpur will stay on as an adviser through Dec. 31, and lead independent director Richard Fearon becomes non-executive chairman.
Frank says his priority is to “sharpen execution and drive performance.”
Fearon expects him to help “drive continued margin expansion across our specialty portfolio.” That expansion is already well underway: operating margin climbed from 8.1% in fiscal 2022 to 11.0% in fiscal 2025…
Fearon gave Khandpur the credit for that, saying he repositioned the company “with a new strategic plan.”
The guidance still stands
The release gives no reason for Khandpur’s exit. It does reaffirm the guidance Avient gave on Aug. 6: about $0.80 of adjusted EPS for the third quarter and $3.10 to $3.25 for 2026, which works out to 10% to 15% growth over 2025.
Analysts expect normalized EPS to keep climbing, from $2.82 in fiscal 2025 to $3.91 by fiscal 2028…
Since the guidance was reaffirmed the same morning, nothing in today’s news gives analysts a reason to cut those estimates.
A discount for one unanswered question
At yesterday’s close, Avient traded at 12.5x forward earnings, already below its five-year average of 14.3x…
At this morning’s price it’s even lower.
I think the market is overreacting. A CEO leaving overnight with no reason given deserves some skepticism. But the board stood behind its numbers in the same release, and Khandpur is staying on to hand things over. The real risk is the handoff itself: Frank comes from crop chemicals, and the margin gains on that chart came under Khandpur’s plan.
Of course, the first real test comes Nov. 4, when Avient reports its third quarter before the open. If it hits that $0.80 and holds the full-year range, then Avient probably earns the benefit of the doubt here.
So what is Avient stock actually worth?
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