Waters (NYSE:WAT) Issues FY24 Earnings Guidance

Waters (NYSE:WAT) updated its FY24 earnings guidance on Tuesday. 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price 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. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Waters from $300.00 to $295.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Robert W. Baird cut their price objective on shares of Waters from $319.00 to $312.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $330.00 to $332.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, TD Cowen upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $350.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Waters currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $306.70.

Waters Price Performance

NYSE WAT traded up $11.54 during trading on Thursday, hitting $335.34. 178,622 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 417,623. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $332.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $310.85. Waters has a fifty-two week low of $231.90 and a fifty-two week high of $363.80. The company has a current ratio of 2.22, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. The company has a market cap of $19.89 billion, a PE ratio of 29.84, a P/E/G 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 the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $635.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.49 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Waters will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

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

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.