Waters (NYSE:WAT) Issues Q2 Earnings Guidance

Waters (NYSE:WAT) updated its second quarter earnings guidance on Tuesday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $2.50-2.60 for the period, compared to the consensus 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

WAT has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on shares of Waters from $319.00 to $312.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Waters from $320.00 to $340.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Waters from $330.00 to $332.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen upped their price target on Waters from $350.00 to $358.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on Waters from $300.00 to $295.00 and set an underweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $306.70.

Waters Price Performance

Shares of WAT traded up $11.54 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $335.34. The stock had a trading volume of 178,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 417,623. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 2.22. The business has a fifty day moving average of $332.95 and a 200 day moving average of $310.85. Waters has a 12 month low of $231.90 and a 12 month high of $363.80. The firm has a market cap of $19.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.84, a PEG ratio of 6.39 and a beta of 0.98.

Waters (NYSE:WAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The medical instruments supplier reported $2.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.10 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $636.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $635.57 million. Waters had a net margin of 21.72% and a return on equity of 81.30%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.49 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Waters will post 11.89 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Waters

In other Waters news, Director Linda Baddour sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 2,250 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $799,965. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate 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.