Waters
WAT on NYSE. Waters Corporation sells laboratory instruments and software to scientists and testing laboratories. Market value $43.2bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
Should I look at this?
Good business, but not cheap right now
Why it could be worth it
See cheaper Health care stocks on the list
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $0.93 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 144.3 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 21 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 100 of 100. Price score: 7 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$436.43 a share, 54% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $282.77 to $454.54.
Pays no dividend
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $2.8bn | $3.0bn | $3.0bn | $3.0bn | $3.2bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 29.5% | 29.4% | 27.7% | 27.9% | 25.4% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 4.12 | 3.12 | 2.05 | 0.89 | 0.55 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.06bn | 0.06bn | 0.06bn | 0.06bn | 0.10bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive3 of 3 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Nothing unusual
- Financial strength (Piotroski)5 of 9
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt0.55× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsSlow, 6.0% a year
- Buying back its own sharesNo, 65% more shares since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $1.6 billion last quarter, up 113% on a year ago.
- A loss of $136 million, after a profit of $147 million a year ago.
- It keeps 7 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, down from 28 cents a year earlier.
- 65% more shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit less of the company.
- Debt is $4.5 billion more than cash, up from $1.1 billion a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $740m |
| December 2024 | $873m |
| March 2025 | $662m |
| June 2025 | $771m |
| September 2025 | $800m |
| December 2025 | $932m |
| March 2026 | $1.3bn |
| June 2026 | $1.6bn |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $162m |
| December 2024 | $231m |
| March 2025 | $121m |
| June 2025 | $147m |
| September 2025 | $149m |
| December 2025 | $225m |
| March 2026 | -$72m |
| June 2026 | -$136m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- 30 October 2026
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 23 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 10 November 2026
Who owns it
21 long-term investors we follow own it, down from 23 last quarter. 1,177 funds in all.
- First Pacific Advisors (FPA)Steven Romick
- Value
- $101m
- Share of fund
- 1.3%
- Jensen Investment ManagementEric Schoenstein
- Value
- $14m
- Share of fund
- 0.4%
- GuardCap Asset ManagementGuardCap team
- Value
- $4m
- Share of fund
- 0.3%
- Auxier Asset ManagementJeff Auxier
- Value
- $895,596
- Share of fund
- 0.1%
- GAMCO InvestorsMario Gabelli
- Value
- $484,177
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
- Mairs & PowerAndy Adams
- Value
- $359,663
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
Sold out this quarter
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$3.2bn
- Massachusetts Financial Services$2.5bn
- Vanguard Capital Management$2.4bn
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$1.8bn
- State Street$1.6bn
- T. Rowe Price Investment Management$1.4bnCut
- Invesco$1.3bnAdded
- First Eagle Investment Management$1.0bnAdded
- Geode Capital Management$985m
- Fundsmith$853mCut
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
2 investors own more than 5%.
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor7.8%−1.2 ptsSince 31 March 2026
- Vanguard Capital ManagementPassive investor7.5%Since 31 March 2026
- FundsmithPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 31 March 2026
- AllianceBernstein L.P.Passive investorSold down below 5%Since 30 September 2025
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 7.8%−1.2 pts | 31 March 2026 | |
Vanguard Capital Management Passive investor | 7.5% | 31 March 2026 | |
Fundsmith Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 31 March 2026 | |
AllianceBernstein L.P. Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 30 September 2025 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
In the last 12 months, 2 insiders bought $451,070 of shares on the open market. 1 sold $1m.
- KUEBLER CHRISTOPHER ADirectorSold
- Date
- 6 August 2026
- Shares
- 3,626
- Price
- $397.94
- Value
- $1m
- Jiang WeiDirectorBought
- Date
- 16 March 2026
- Shares
- 500
- Price
- $289.46
- Value
- $144,730
- FEARON RICHARD HDirectorBought
- Date
- 6 March 2026
- Shares
- 1,000
- Price
- $306.34
- Value
- $306,340
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 August 2026 | KUEBLER CHRISTOPHER A Director | Sold | 3,626 | $397.94 | $1m |
| 16 March 2026 | Jiang Wei Director | Bought | 500 | $289.46 | $144,730 |
| 6 March 2026 | FEARON RICHARD H Director | Bought | 1,000 | $306.34 | $306,340 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
What could go wrong
- It isn't cheap on profits: 144.3× operating profit.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.