Waters (NYSE:WAT) Issues FY24 Earnings Guidance

Waters (NYSE:WAT) issued an update on its FY24 earnings guidance on Tuesday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $11.75-12.05 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $11.88. The company issued revenue guidance of +0-2% yr/yr to ~$2.96-3.02 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $2.98 billion. Waters also updated its Q2 guidance to $2.50-2.60 EPS.

Waters Stock Performance

WAT traded up $6.40 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $326.26. 643,868 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 416,431. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $333.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $310.25. Waters has a 12 month low of $231.90 and a 12 month high of $363.80. The stock has a market cap of $19.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.39 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.57.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.56 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $819.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $815.50 million. Waters had a return on equity of 81.30% and a net margin of 21.72%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.84 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Waters will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Waters from $290.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Waters from $275.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Waters from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and eight have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Waters currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $298.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Linda Baddour sold 500 shares of Waters stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $355.54, for a total transaction of $177,770.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $799,965. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 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.