Waters (NYSE:WAT) Releases 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.

Waters Price Performance

Shares of WAT stock traded up $6.40 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $326.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 643,868 shares, compared to its average volume of 416,431. 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 market capitalization of $19.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.48, a PEG ratio of 6.39 and a beta of 0.98. Waters has a fifty-two week low of $231.90 and a fifty-two week high of $363.80. 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 (NYSE:WAT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical instruments supplier reported $3.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.56 by $0.06. Waters had a return on equity of 81.30% and a net margin of 21.72%. The firm had revenue of $819.50 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $815.50 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Waters will post 11.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Waters news, Director Linda Baddour sold 500 shares of Waters stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $355.54, for a total transaction of $177,770.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $799,965. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Waters Company Profile

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.