Waters Corporation (WAT)
Health Care · $41.7B market cap · SEC CIK 0001000697
$425.74
▲+0.43% on the day
close of Sep 22, 2026
46
Mixed
fundamentals score out of 100
fundamentals score out of 100
Next reports on Nov 2, 2026, before the open, with analysts expecting $4.04 in earnings per share.
The case for WAT
- Revenue up 52.5% on the year.
- Generated $540M of free cash flow in FY2025, 17% of revenue.
- Within 1% of its 52-week high: the trend is up.
- Up 40.9% over the past year.
The case against
- Very expensive at 251.1× earnings. Years of growth are already in the price.
- Earnings per share down 63.9%.
- Return on equity of only 2%.
- Net margin of 3.6% leaves very little room for error.
- Free cash flow is only 1.3% of its market value, a thin cash return for the price.
- Price/sales of 9.0× is higher than 88% of Health Care companies.
What the score is made of
Each factor is half a curve over reported figures and half a rank among the other Health Care companies (momentum is judged against fixed thresholds only), and the five are blended by weight. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.
| Valuewhat you pay for the earnings, sales, assets and cash | 18 |
|---|---|
| Growthhow fast revenue and earnings are moving, this year and over five | 42 |
| Profitabilityhow much of the revenue becomes profit, and how much of that is cash | 32 |
| Momentumhow the price has behaved lately | 88 |
| Stabilityhow violently it moves, what it owes and what it pays you | 65 |
- Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 59 Health Care companies.
Key numbers
| Price / earnings | 251.1× |
|---|---|
| Price / book | 2.45× |
| Price / sales | 9.0× |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | +52.5% |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -63.9% |
| Gross margin | 51% |
| Operating margin | 7% |
| Net margin | 4% |
| Return on equity | 2% |
| Debt / equity | 0.33× |
| Current ratio | 1.79 |
| Dividend yield | none |
| Beta | 1.19 |
| 52-week range | $282.77 – $431.78 |
| Position in that range | 96% of the way up |
| 3-month return | +19.3% |
| 1-year return | +40.9% |
Five years of financials, as filed
Pulled from Waters Corporation's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are derived from the rows above.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $3.2B | $3.0B | $3.0B | $3.0B | $2.8B |
| Operating income | $803M | $826M | $818M | $873M | $822M |
| Net income | $643M | $638M | $642M | $708M | $693M |
| Operating cash flow | $653M | $762M | $603M | $612M | $747M |
| Capital expenditure | $113M | $142M | $161M | — | — |
| Total assets | $5.1B | $4.6B | $4.6B | $3.3B | $3.1B |
| Total liabilities | $2.5B | $2.7B | $3.5B | $2.8B | $2.7B |
| Shareholder equity | $2.6B | $1.8B | $1.2B | $504M | $368M |
| Cash | $588M | $325M | $395M | $481M | $501M |
| Long-term debt | $947M | $1.6B | $2.3B | $1.5B | $1.5B |
| Free cash flow | $540M | $620M | $442M | — | — |
| Operating margin | 25.4% | 27.9% | 27.7% | 29.4% | 29.5% |
| Net margin | 20.3% | 21.6% | 21.7% | 23.8% | 24.9% |
| Diluted shares | 59.7M | 59.6M | 59.3M | 60.3M | 62.0M |
Share count is down 3.7% over 4 years. Buybacks have been shrinking the pie.
Risk factors WAT lists in its 10-K
- Acquisition of BD Biosciences & Diagnostic Solutions Businesses
- High-Performance and Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography
- Mass Spectrometry and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
- Thermal Analysis, Rheometry and Calorimetry
- Environmental Matters and Climate Change
- Risks Related to the BDS Business Acquisition
- Risks Related to the Macroeconomic Conditions
- Risks Related to Human Capital Management
- Risks Related to Cybersecurity and Data Privacy
- Risks Related to Compliance, Regulatory or Legal Matters
- The Company’s failure to successfully integrate the BDS Business within the expected timeline could adversely affect the Company’s future results
- The Company and SpinCo are required to abide by potentially significant restrictions that could limit the Company’s ability to undertake certain corporate actions that otherwise could be advantageous
- The Company may be unable to provide (or obtain from third parties) the same types and level of services to the BDS Business that historically have been provided by BD or may be unable to provide (or obtain) them at the same cost
- Global economic conditions may have an adverse effect on the demand for, and supply of, the Company’s products and harm the Company’s financial results