Stocks · Healthcare · Medical - Diagnostics & Research
Waters Corporation WAT
$425.21 -0.08% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $41.75B
Strong trend
Next earnings report: Nov 3, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Operating margin narrowed to 8.0% from 27.7% a year earlier.
- The diluted share count rose 64.6% in a year.
- Diluted EPS over the last four quarters was $4.01, down 63.8% year over year.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Healthcare sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 16%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 25%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 21%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 29%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 8%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 30%
- Gross marginBottom 34%
- Operating marginTop 30%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 10%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 21%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 13%
- Interest coverTop 34%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 27%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 33%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 32%
- Sales / enterprise valueBottom 30%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 3%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 45%
- 6-month returnTop 25%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 34%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 6%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 7%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 44%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 4%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 17%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 14%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 6%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 7%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 34%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 13%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 26.4% | 52.5% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | -28.6% | -63.8% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 59.0% | 50.8% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | 27.7% | 8.0% | ↓ |
| FCF margin | 20.3% | 8.6% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 52.5% | 26.4% | ↑ | Top 16% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | -63.8% | -28.6% | ↓ | Bottom 25% |
| Gross margin | 50.8% | 59.0% | ↓ | Bottom 34% |
| Operating margin | 8.0% | 27.7% | ↓ | Top 30% |
| Net margin | 3.6% | 21.7% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 8.6% | 20.3% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 1.3% | — | Top 30% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 2.1% | — | Bottom 29% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 3.00×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -1.6%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 1.6%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +119.7 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 5.26×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 2.7×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- -0.02%
- Shareholder yield
- -0.02%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +64.6%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +18.5%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jul 4, 2026 (filed Aug 11, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 13
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +6.1%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +2.7%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 6 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $450.17
- Target vs current price
- +5.9%
- Analysts with a rating
- 37
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 51%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | +1.3% | +5.7% | +9.9% | +10.6% | — |
| May 5, 2026 | +16.9% | +13.5% | +15.3% | +23.2% | +26.0% |
| Feb 9, 2026 | +0.4% | -13.9% | -15.2% | -19.8% | -10.2% |
| Nov 4, 2025 | +5.9% | +6.3% | +9.0% | +15.3% | +7.3% |
| Aug 4, 2025 | +0.3% | -1.6% | -3.1% | +4.0% | +21.2% |
| May 6, 2025 | +1.4% | -2.7% | +5.3% | +0.3% | -17.1% |
| Feb 12, 2025 | +1.7% | -5.8% | -6.7% | -7.9% | -13.4% |
| Nov 1, 2024 | +9.3% | +19.8% | +19.5% | +19.1% | +29.1% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 4, 2026 | $3.05 | $3.01 | +1.3% | $1.65B |
| May 5, 2026 | $2.70 | $2.31 | +16.9% | $1.27B |
| Feb 9, 2026 | $4.53 | $4.51 | +0.4% | $932.4M |
| Nov 4, 2025 | $3.40 | $3.21 | +5.9% | $799.9M |
| Aug 4, 2025 | $2.95 | $2.94 | +0.3% | $771.3M |
| May 6, 2025 | $2.25 | $2.22 | +1.4% | $661.7M |
| Feb 12, 2025 | $4.10 | $4.03 | +1.7% | $872.7M |
| Nov 1, 2024 | $2.93 | $2.68 | +9.3% | $740.3M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 106.0× | 30.7× | 100th | Top 27% |
| P/E (forward) | 29.2× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 51.9× | — | — | Top 32% |
| EV / Sales | 10.00× | — | — | Bottom 30% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 0.95% | — | — | Top 33% |
| Earnings yield | 0.94% | — | — | Top 27% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 23.7× – 103.5× since Jul 3, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +33.0%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- -63.8%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +301.9%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✓ Price above 20-day average
- ✓ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 53
- Days above the 200-day average
- 90
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +4.9%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +0.8%
- Distance from 50-day average
- +3.7%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +17.0%
- RSI (14)
- 53.1
- Relative volume
- 0.90×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 27.2%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 21th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.86
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.34
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -4.1%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -33.4%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 8, 2021 | Oct 30, 2023 | -44.3% | 539 days | 722 days (Sep 17, 2026) |
| Feb 2, 2021 | Mar 4, 2021 | -10.2% | 21 days | 21 days (Apr 5, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $41.75B
- P/E (TTM)
- 106.0
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $4.01
- Revenue (TTM)
- $4.64B
- 52-week range
- $282.77 – $448.21
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.79B | $2.97B | $2.96B | $2.96B | $3.17B |
| Gross profit | $1.63B | $1.72B | $1.76B | $1.76B | $1.83B |
| Operating income | $821.7M | $873.4M | $817.7M | $826.4M | $893.2M |
| Net income | $692.8M | $707.8M | $642.2M | $637.8M | $642.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | $11.17 | $11.73 | $10.84 | $10.71 | $10.76 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $740.3M | $872.7M | $661.7M | $771.3M | $799.9M | $932.4M | $1.27B | $1.65B |
| Net income | $161.5M | $231.4M | $121.4M | $147.1M | $148.9M | $225.2M | -$72.0M | -$136.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $2.71 | $3.88 | $2.03 | $2.47 | $2.50 | $3.77 | -$0.87 | -$1.39 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $747.3M | $611.7M | $602.8M | $762.1M | $652.6M |
| Capital expenditure | -$168.3M | -$183.5M | -$160.6M | -$142.5M | -$112.7M |
| Free cash flow | $579.0M | $428.2M | $442.2M | $619.6M | $539.8M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | -$648.9M | -$626.1M | -$70.3M | -$13.5M | $6.1M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $539.0M
- Total assets
- $24.75B
- Total liabilities
- $9.56B
- Total debt
- $5.25B
- Net debt
- $4.71B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $15.20B
As of Jul 4, 2026 (filed Aug 11, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 26, 1996 | $0.16 | — |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 3,304,268
- Days to cover
- 5.78
- Change vs previous report
- +0.3%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Aug 28, 2000
- 2-for-1
- Jun 11, 1999
- 2-for-1