WAT|Earnings Snapshot
EPS
| Qtr | Est | Actual | +/− |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q3'26 | $4.00 | - | - |
| Q2'26 | $3.99 | $3.05 | -23.6% |
| Q1'26 | $2.36 | $2.70 | +14.4% |
| Q4'25 | $2.47 | $4.53 | +83.1% |
| Q3'25 | $3.22 | $3.40 | +5.5% |
| Q2'25 | $2.94 | $2.95 | +0.3% |
Revenue
| Qtr | Est | Actual | +/− |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q3'26 | $1.8B | - | - |
| Q2'26 | $1.6B | $1.6B | +0.4% |
| Q1'26 | $1.2B | $1.3B | +4.3% |
| Q4'25 | $712M | $932M | +31.0% |
| Q3'25 | - | $800M | - |
| Q2'25 | - | $771M | - |
WAT|Monthly Returns
Market Data
WAT Stock Snapshot
- Market cap
- 40.12B
- P/E ratio
- 241.5
- Day range
- $407.00 – $411.99
- News sentiment
- 72/100 · Bullish
- Analyst target
- $442.71 (+8.1%)
- Consensus
- Buy · 33 analysts
Momentum has flattened on WAT, leaving the next move dependent on news rather than the chart. Sector peers are worth watching - large caps in Healthcare tend to move together on rotation.
Reverse DCF
What growth is priced into WAT?
At today's price, Waters Corporation needs to grow free cash flow about 31.5% a year for the next 10 years to justify its valuation at a 9.46% cost of capital. Over its actual history it has compounded free cash flow at 3.0% a year, so the market is asking for 28.5 percentage points above its own delivered rate. On that basis WAT looks priced above what its own growth record supports.
- Implied FCF growth
- 31.5%
- Historical FCF CAGR
- 3.0%
- Growth gap
- +28.5 pts
- Verdict
- RICH
- Discount rate (WACC)
- 9.46%
- Beta
- 0.92
Behaviour On Record
What WAT's own history says about today's numbers
- Realized volatility (21d)
- 23.4% 48th pct
- Below its peak
- -4.8%
- vs 200-day average
- +11.9%
- Up days (1y)
- 50%
Waters Corporation is currently running 23.4% annualised volatility over the last 21 sessions. Measured against WAT's own 13 years of daily returns rather than a market-wide average, that is the 48th percentile — close to its own typical level, against a typical reading of 23.9%. The distinction matters because a number that looks calm for one stock is turbulent for another, and the absolute figure on its own tells you neither.
WAT is trading -4.8% below its running peak. Across 12 full years on file, its median worst-drawdown-in-a-year was -21.5%, and the deepest was -33.5% in 2020. The current pullback is therefore shallower than what this stock gives back in a typical year, which is context worth having before treating it as a dislocation.
Price sits +11.9% from its 200-day moving average. Against every other day in its history, that gap ranks at the 76th percentile — a somewhat wider gap than its own norm. Over the past year WAT closed higher on 50% of sessions, and it is currently 1 session into a falling streak.
On September specifically: over 13 years of records, WAT finished the month higher 6 of 13 times, with a median return of -0.1% and an average of -1.8%. Its strongest month historically has been July at +3.7% on average, its weakest February at -2.3%. Seasonality is a weak signal on its own — a decade is a small sample and regimes change — but it is a real distribution rather than a rule of thumb.
Overnight risk is measurable too: WAT has opened more than 2% away from the prior close in 103 of 3,267 sessions (3.2% of the time), with the largest gaps running +11.7% and -46.9%. For anyone holding through an event, that rate is a better guide to overnight exposure than the intraday range.
Across the last 3 dated reports on file, WAT moved an average of 0.6% in the session after earnings, closing higher 3 of those 3 times, with a median move of +0.7% and a largest of +1.0%.
All figures computed from 3,268 daily closes between 2013-09-16 and 2026-09-14, split-adjusted, recomputed daily. Percentiles are against WAT's own 13-year history, not a peer group or index.
Sector Rotation
Is money rotating into or out of WAT's sector?
Waters Corporation sits in the Health Care sector, currently ranked 3rd of 11 GICS sectors by relative-strength rotation score (leading).
- Sector rank
- #3 of 11
- Sector state
- Leading
- Sector rotation score
- 80
Analyst Rating Changes
Are analysts turning bullish or bearish on WAT?
UBS most recently upgraded Waters Corporation to Buy on Sep 9, 2026 with a price target of $490 (from $375). Over the last 90 days, coverage has run 3 upgrades against 0 downgrades, a net bullish lean.
- Latest action
- UBS — Buy
- 90-day upgrades
- 3
- 90-day downgrades
- 0
- Net rating momentum
- +3
