Waters (NYSE:WAT) Issues Q2 Earnings Guidance

Waters (NYSE:WAT) issued an update on its second quarter earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $2.50-2.60 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $2.76. The company issued revenue guidance of down 4.5-6.5% yr/yr to ~$692.8-707.6 million, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $729.41 million. Waters also updated its FY24 guidance to $11.75-12.05 EPS.

Analyst Ratings Changes

WAT has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Waters from $330.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Waters from $350.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird decreased their target price on Waters from $319.00 to $312.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays lowered their target price on Waters from $300.00 to $295.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Waters from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $306.70.

Waters Stock Performance

WAT traded up $10.12 on Friday, hitting $346.54. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 26,270 shares, compared to its average volume of 416,014. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $332.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $311.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 2.22 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. Waters has a 12 month low of $231.90 and a 12 month high of $363.80. The firm has a market cap of $20.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.39 and a beta of 0.98.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.10 by $0.11. Waters had a return on equity of 81.30% and a net margin of 21.72%. The company had revenue of $636.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $635.57 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.49 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Waters will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Waters

In other Waters news, Director Linda Baddour sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.54, for a total value of $177,770.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 2,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $799,965. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.82% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Waters

Waters Corporation provides analytical workflow solutions in Asia, the Americas, and Europe. It operates through two segments: Waters and TA. The company designs, manufactures, sells, and services high and ultra-performance liquid chromatography, as well as mass spectrometry (MS) technology systems and support products, including chromatography columns, other consumable products, and post-warranty service plans.