SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION

12 Months Ended

Oct. 31, 2020

Share-based Payment Arrangement, Noncash Expense [Abstract]

Agilent accounts for share-based awards in accordance with the provisions of the accounting guidance which requires the measurement and recognition of compensation expense for all share-based payment awards made to our employees and directors including restricted stock units, stock options, employee stock purchases made under our employee stock purchase plan and performance share awards granted to selected members of our senior management under the long-term performance plan ("LTPP") based on estimated fair values.

Description of Share-Based Plans

Employee Stock Purchase Plan. Effective May 1, 2020, we adopted the 2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan ("ESPP") which replaced our previous Employee Stock Purchase Plan. The ESPP allows eligible employees to contribute up to 10 percent of their base compensation to purchase shares of our common stock at 85 percent of the closing market price at purchase date. There are 31 million shares authorized for issuance in connection with the ESPP.

Under our ESPP, employees purchased 628,644 shares for $41 million in 2020, 603,488 shares for $37 million in 2019 and 558,116 shares for $32 million in 2018. As of October 31, 2020, the number of shares of common stock authorized and available for issuance under our ESPP was 25,770,573. This excludes the number of shares of common stock to be issued to participants in consideration of the aggregate participant contributions totaling $22 million as of October 31, 2020.

Incentive Compensation Plans. On November 15, 2017 and March 21, 2018, the Board of Directors and the stockholders, respectively, approved the Agilent Technologies, Inc. 2018 Stock Plan (the "2018 Plan") which amends, including renaming and extending the term of, the Agilent Technologies, Inc. 2009 Stock Plan (the "2009 Plan"). The 2009 plan replaced the Agilent Technologies, Inc. Amended and Restated 1999 Stock Plan and 1999 Non-Employee Director Stock Plan. The 2018 Plan provides for the grant of awards in the form of stock options, stock appreciation rights ("SARs"), restricted stock, restricted stock units ("RSUs"), performance shares and performance units with performance-based conditions on vesting or exercisability, and cash awards. The 2018 Plan has a term of ten years. As of October 31, 2020, 25,596,430 shares were available for future awards under the 2018 Plan.

Stock options under the 2018 Plan may be either "incentive stock options", as defined in Section 422 of the Internal Revenue Code, or non-statutory. Options were granted prior to November 1, 2015 and generally vest at a rate of 25 percent per year over a period of four years from the date of grant with a maximum contractual term of ten years. The exercise price for stock options is generally not less than 100 percent of the fair market value of our common stock on the date the stock award is granted. Agilent issues new shares of common stock when employee stock options are exercised.

Effective November 1, 2003, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors approved the LTPP, which is a performance stock award program administered under the 2018 Plan, for the company's executive officers and other key employees. Participants in this program are entitled to receive unrestricted shares of the company's stock after the end of a three-year period if specified performance targets are met. Certain LTPP awards are generally designed to meet the criteria of a performance award with the performance metrics and peer group comparison based on the Total Stockholders’ Return (“TSR”) set at the beginning of the performance period. Effective November 1, 2015, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors approved another type of performance stock award for the company's executive officers and other key employees. Participants in this program are also entitled to receive unrestricted shares of the company's stock after the end of a three-year period if specified performance targets over the three-year period are met. The performance target for grants made beginning in 2017 and thereafter were based on Earnings Per Share ("EPS"). The performance targets for LTPP-EPS grants for year 2 and year 3 of the performance period are set in the first quarter of year 2 and year 3, respectively. All LTPP awards granted after November 1, 2015, are subject to a one-year post-vest holding period.

Based on the performance metrics, the final LTPP award may vary from zero to 200 percent of the target award. The maximum contractual term for awards under the LTPP program is three years. We consider the dilutive impact of these programs in our diluted net income per share calculation only to the extent that the performance conditions are expected to be met.

We also issue restricted stock units under our share-based plans. The estimated fair value of the restricted stock unit awards granted under the Stock Plans is determined based on the market price of Agilent's common stock on the date of grant adjusted for expected dividend yield. Restricted stock units generally vest, with some exceptions, at a rate of 25 percent per year over a period of four years from the date of grant. All restricted stock units granted to our executives after November 1, 2015, are subject to a one-year post-vest holding period.

Impact of Share-based Compensation Awards

We have recognized compensation expense based on the estimated grant date fair value method under the authoritative guidance. For all share-based awards we have recognized compensation expense using a straight-line amortization method. As the guidance requires that share-based compensation expense be based on awards that are ultimately expected to vest, estimated share-based compensation has been reduced for estimated forfeitures.

The impact on our results for share-based compensation was as follows:


	Years Ended October 31,
	2020		2019		2018
	(in millions)
Cost of products and services	$	21	$	18	$	16
Research and development	9		7		7
Selling, general and administrative	54		47		48
Total share-based compensation expense	$	84	$	72	$	71

At October 31, 2020 and 2019, no share-based compensation was capitalized within inventory.

Valuation Assumptions

For all periods presented, shares granted under the LTPP (TSR) were valued using a Monte Carlo simulation. The ESPP allows eligible employees to purchase shares of our common stock at 85 percent of the fair market value at the purchase date.

The estimated fair value of restricted stock unit awards and LTPP (EPS) was determined based on the market price of Agilent's common stock on the date of grant adjusted for expected dividend yield and as appropriate, a discount related to the one-year post vesting. The compensation cost for LTPP (EPS) awards reflects the cost of awards that are probable to vest at the end of the performance period.

The following assumptions were used to estimate the fair value of awards granted.


	Years Ended October 31,
	2020	2019	2018
LTPP:
Volatility of Agilent shares	23%	22%	21%
Volatility of selected peer-company shares	15%-44%	15%-66%	14%-66%
Pair-wise correlation with selected peers	29%	30%	32%

Post-vest restriction discount for all executive awards	5.3%	5.0%	4.8%

Shares granted under the LTPP (TSR) were valued using a Monte Carlo simulation model. The Monte Carlo simulation fair value model requires the use of highly subjective and complex assumptions, including the price volatility of the underlying stock. For LTPP (TSR) grants in 2017 and thereafter, we used our own historical stock price volatility.

All LTPP awards granted have a one-year post-vest holding restriction. The estimated discount associated with post-vest holding restrictions is calculated using the Finnerty model. The model calculates the potential lost value if the employee were able to sell the shares during the lack of marketability period instead of being required to hold the shares.

Share-Based Payment Award Activity

Employee Stock Options

The following table summarizes employee stock option award activity of our employees and directors for 2020.


	Options Outstanding	Weighted Average Exercise Price
	(in thousands)
Outstanding at October 31, 2019	1,445	$	36

Exercised	(575)	$	34

Outstanding at October 31, 2020	870	$	37

The options outstanding and exercisable for equity share-based payment awards at October 31, 2020 were as follows:


	Options Outstanding						Options Exercisable
Range of Exercise Prices	Number Outstanding	Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life	Weighted Average Exercise Price		Aggregate Intrinsic Value		Number Exercisable	Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life	Weighted Average Exercise Price		Aggregate Intrinsic Value
	(in thousands)	(in years)			(in thousands)		(in thousands)	(in years)			(in thousands)

$25.01 - $30.00	228	1.7	$	27	$	17,192	228	1.7	$	27	$	17,192
$30.01 - $40.00	121	3.1	$	39	7,586		121	3.1	$	39	7,586
$40.01- over	521	4.0	$	41	31,883		521	4.0	$	41	31,883

	870	3.3	$	37	$	56,661	870	3.3	$	37	$	56,661

The aggregate intrinsic value in the table above represents the total pre-tax intrinsic value, based on the company's closing stock price of $102.09 at October 31, 2020, which would have been received by award holders had all award holders exercised their awards that were in-the-money as of that date. The total number of in-the-money awards exercisable at October 31, 2020 was approximately 0.9 million.

The following table summarizes the aggregate intrinsic value of options exercised in 2020, 2019 and 2018:


	Aggregate Intrinsic Value		Weighted Average Exercise Price
	(in thousands)
Options exercised in fiscal 2018	$	28,417	$	32
Options exercised in fiscal 2019	$	24,409	$	33
Options exercised in fiscal 2020	$	30,481	$	34

As of October 31, 2020, the unrecognized share-based compensation cost for outstanding stock option awards, net of expected forfeitures, was zero. The amount of cash received from the exercise of share-based awards granted was $60 million in 2020, $54 million in 2019 and $56 million in 2018.

Non-Vested Awards

The following table summarizes non-vested award activity in 2020 primarily for our LTPP and restricted stock unit awards.


	Shares	Weighted Average Grant Price
	(in thousands)
Non-vested at October 31, 2019	3,173	$	60
Granted	1,091	$	79
Vested	(1,629)	$	52
Forfeited	(115)	$	68
Change in LTPP shares in the year due to exceeding performance targets	298	$	47
Non-vested at October 31, 2020	2,818	$	70

As of October 31, 2020, the unrecognized share-based compensation cost for non-vested restricted stock awards was approximately $95 million which is expected to be amortized over a weighted average period of 2.1 years. The total fair value of restricted stock awards vested was $85 million for 2020, $69 million for 2019 and $58 million for 2018.