Waters (NYSE:WAT) Issues Q2 Earnings Guidance

Waters (NYSE:WAT) updated its second quarter earnings guidance on Tuesday. 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.

Waters Stock Performance

Waters stock opened at $319.86 on Tuesday. Waters has a fifty-two week low of $231.90 and a fifty-two week high of $363.80. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $333.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $310.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a current ratio of 2.22 and a quick ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $18.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.39 and a beta of 0.98.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.56 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $819.50 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $815.50 million. Waters had a return on equity of 81.30% and a net margin of 21.72%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.84 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Waters will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Waters

In related news, Director Linda Baddour sold 500 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,250 shares in the company, valued at $799,965. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

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.