Waters Management
Management criteria checks 3/4
Waters' CEO is Udit Batra, appointed in Sep 2020, has a tenure of 5.67 years. total yearly compensation is $13.97M, comprised of 8.2% salary and 91.8% bonuses, including company stock and options. directly owns 0.026% of the company’s shares, worth $8.77M. The average tenure of the management team and the board of directors is 5 years and 4.8 years respectively.
Key information
Udit Batra
Chief executive officer
US$14.0m
Total compensation
| CEO salary percentage | 8.23% |
| CEO tenure | 5.7yrs |
| CEO ownership | 0.03% |
| Management average tenure | 5yrs |
| Board average tenure | 4.8yrs |
Recent management updates
Recent updates
Narrative Update • May 01
WAT: New Instrument Launches And Reorganized Divisions Will Support Future Upside
Analysts have trimmed their price target on Waters from $480 to $470, citing updated assumptions for significantly higher revenue growth at 37.91%, a profit margin of 17.88%, a prospective P/E of 47.70 and a discount rate of 7.89%. What's in the News Waters plans to globally launch the omniDAWN Multi Angle Light Scattering Photometer in summer 2026, targeting UHPLC and UPLC workflows for absolute molar mass and size measurements across complex analytes such as protein aggregates, viral vectors, lipid nanoparticles, and advanced materials (Key Developments).
Narrative Update • Apr 17
WAT: Reorganization And Product Pipeline Will Likely Keep Upside In Check
Analysts have kept their price target for Waters steady at $330.00, citing updated assumptions for slightly higher revenue growth, a wider profit margin, and a higher future P/E multiple as the key drivers behind the unchanged fair value view. What's in the News Launched the Waters omniDAWN Multi-Angle Light Scattering Photometer for UHPLC and UPLC workflows, targeting absolute molar mass and size measurements for complex analytes such as protein aggregates, viral vectors, lipid nanoparticles, and advanced materials.
Narrative Update • Apr 03
WAT: New Four Division Model And Materials Focus Will Support Higher Profitability
Analysts have reduced their price target on Waters by about $5 to $393, reflecting small adjustments to fair value assumptions, discount rate, revenue growth, profit margin and future P/E inputs. What's in the News Waters launched the TA Instruments ARES-G3 Rheometer, a next generation system that captures up to 25,000 data points per second, aims to shorten standard test times by up to 80%, and is available for order as part of the materials characterization portfolio (Key Developments).Narrative Update • Mar 20
WAT: New Four Division Model Will Support Higher Long Term Profitability
Analysts have kept their price target for Waters steady at $398.05. This reflects updated views on a slightly lower discount rate, modestly adjusted revenue growth expectations, a higher projected profit margin, and a reduced future P/E assumption.Seeking Alpha • Mar 10
Waters: Doing Well, Acquired Activities Not So Much
Summary Waters' shares have retreated to the $300 level, presenting a renewed buying opportunity after initial post-acquisition gains evaporated. The $17.5B acquisition of Becton, Dickinson's Biosciences & Diagnostics Solutions expands Waters scale, though acquired business growth appears soft versus initial expectations. Waters guides 2026 sales to $6.405–$6.455B and adjusted EPS to $14.30–$14.50, reflecting early synergies and manageable leverage. At 21x earnings, Waters is not historically cheap, but synergy potential and deleveraging support a more upbeat outlook at current levels. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaNarrative Update • Mar 05
WAT: New Four Division Structure Will Support Higher Long Term Earnings
Analysts have nudged their price target for Waters higher to $398.05 from $394.68, reflecting updated assumptions that combine a higher revenue growth outlook, a lower projected profit margin, and a richer future P/E multiple. What's in the News Waters has closed a transaction and reorganized into four divisions, aligning its operations with high volume testing in regulated applications and adjacent markets such as therapeutics, food, environmental testing, and specialty diagnostics (Key Developments).Narrative Update • Feb 19
WAT: Reorganization And Margin Pressure Will Likely Cap Upside For Now
Analysts now mark their price target for Waters at $330, down from $349, citing updated assumptions around revenue growth, profit margins, discount rate, and future P/E that change their overall valuation framework. What's in the News Waters closed a transaction and reorganized into four divisions focused on high-volume testing and adjacent markets, now grouped as Waters Analytical Sciences, Waters Biosciences, Waters Advanced Diagnostics, and Waters Materials Sciences (company announcement).Narrative Update • Feb 05
WAT: New Detector Launch And Higher Margins Will Likely Disappoint Optimists
Analysts have modestly lifted their price target for Waters to about $349, citing updated assumptions around discount rates, revenue growth, profit margins, and future P/E as the key drivers of this small adjustment from roughly $348.15. What's in the News Waters has scheduled a special or extraordinary shareholders meeting for January 27, 2026, to be held online via proxydocs.com/wat in the United States (Key Developments).Narrative Update • Jan 22
WAT: New Detector Launch And Stable Margins Will Support Future Upside
Analysts kept their price target for Waters steady at US$480.00, with only very small tweaks to discount rate, revenue growth, profit margin, and future P/E assumptions, reflecting fine-tuning rather than a major shift in their view. What's in the News Waters scheduled a special or extraordinary shareholders meeting for January 27, 2026, to be held via proxydocs.com/wat in the United States (company event filing).Narrative Update • Jan 08
WAT: Higher Margins And New Product Launch Will Support Future Upside
Analysts have lifted their price target on Waters to US$480 from about US$424, citing updated assumptions for slightly higher revenue growth, profit margins near 26%, and a modestly higher future P/E multiple. What's in the News Waters scheduled a special or extraordinary shareholders meeting for January 27, 2026, to be held online via proxydocs.com/wat (Special/Extraordinary Shareholders Meeting).Analysis Article • Jan 04
Estimating The Intrinsic Value Of Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT)
Key Insights Waters' estimated fair value is US$362 based on 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity Waters' US$382 share...Narrative Update • Dec 25
WAT: Future Product Expansion Will Likely Fail To Justify Current Optimism
Analysts have raised their price target on Waters from 300.00 dollars to 348.15 dollars, citing slightly stronger expectations for revenue growth, profit margins, and future valuation multiples. What's in the News Launched a new Charged Aerosol Detector optimized for Empower Software, expanding capabilities for measuring analytes with little or no UV absorption across pharmaceuticals, food, and environmental testing, with shipments expected by April 2026 (company product announcement).Narrative Update • Dec 10
WAT: Future Margin Gains And New Instruments Will Support Measured Earnings Outlook
Narrative Update on Waters Analysts have modestly raised their price target on Waters by approximately $6 per share, reflecting slightly lower discount rate assumptions, a small improvement in projected profit margins, and a marginally higher future P/E multiple that together support a higher fair value estimate. What's in the News Launched a new Charged Aerosol Detector, purpose built for Empower chromatography software, expanding Waters portfolio of LC detectors and strengthening its position in compliant, high sensitivity analysis for low UV analytes, with shipments expected by April 2026 (Key Developments) Unveiled the Xevo Charge Detection Mass Spectrometer to enable high resolution characterization of very large biomolecules that are central to next generation therapeutics, leveraging technology acquired from Indiana University and Megadalton Solutions (Key Developments) Raised full year 2025 guidance and now expects constant currency sales growth of 6.7% to 7.3% and GAAP EPS of 11.10 to 11.20 dollars per diluted share (Key Developments) Issued new guidance for the fourth quarter of 2025, targeting constant currency sales growth of 5.0% to 7.0% and GAAP EPS of 4.10 to 4.20 dollars per diluted share (Key Developments) Completed its multi year share repurchase program announced in January 2019, buying back more than 15.1 million shares for approximately 3.8 billion dollars in total consideration (Key Developments) Valuation Changes The fair value estimate has risen slightly to approximately $395 per share from about $389 per share, reflecting modest valuation upside.Narrative Update • Nov 26
WAT: Future Margins And Expanded Guidance Will Offset Slower Revenue Trends
Narrative Update on Waters: Analyst Price Target Revision Analysts have raised their price target for Waters, increasing the fair value estimate by $5.71 to $388.58. This revision is attributed to improved profit margin projections, even as revenue growth expectations have slowed.Narrative Update • Nov 07
WAT: Revenue Momentum And Expanded Guidance Will Balance Margin Risks Ahead
Analysts have raised their price target for Waters from $355.74 to $382.87. They cite significantly higher expected revenue growth, which outweighs a slight decrease in projected profit margins.Narrative Update • Oct 23
Emerging Technologies And Share Repurchases Will Support Long-Term Market Opportunities
Narrative Update on Waters Analysts have slightly raised their price target for Waters from $351.07 to $355.74. This change is attributed to modest improvements in projected revenue growth and fair value estimates.Narrative Update • Oct 09
Pharmaceutical R&D And Merger Will Unlock Future Market Potential
Analysts have raised their price target for Waters to $351.07 from $347.14, citing expectations of stronger profit margins and steady revenue growth ahead. What's in the News Waters Corporation raised its earnings guidance for the full year 2025 and projects constant currency sales growth between 5.5% and 7.5%.Analysis Article • Sep 19
Risks To Shareholder Returns Are Elevated At These Prices For Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT)
Waters Corporation's ( NYSE:WAT ) price-to-earnings (or "P/E") ratio of 27.6x might make it look like a sell right now...Narrative Update • Sep 04
Pharmaceutical R&D And Merger Will Unlock Future Market Potential
With no changes in revenue growth expectations or discount rate, Waters’ fair value estimate remains stable, as reflected in the unchanged consensus analyst price target of $350.24. What's in the News Completed buyback program with 15,195,844 shares repurchased for $3,790.62 million, representing 22.96% of shares.Analysis Article • Jul 24
Are Investors Undervaluing Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) By 36%?
Key Insights Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, Waters fair value estimate is US$465 Waters is estimated to be...Analysis Article • Jul 06
These 4 Measures Indicate That Waters (NYSE:WAT) Is Using Debt Reasonably Well
David Iben put it well when he said, 'Volatility is not a risk we care about. What we care about is avoiding the...Seeking Alpha • Feb 21
Waters Corporation: Instrument Replacement Cycle Momentum, But Valuation Is A Concern
Summary Waters Corp reported better-than-expected Q4'24 and FY'24 results, driven by strong performance in academia, government, and pharma segments, despite FX headwinds impacting gross margins. The company anticipates continued growth in 2025, with projected revenue growth between 4.5% and 7%, supported by emerging markets like India and high-growth areas like GLP-1 and PFAS testing. Risks include elevated valuations and limited opportunities for cash deployment, making buybacks less attractive; current valuation appears challenging compared to historical averages and peers. I rate Waters Corp as a 'hold' due to solid recovery and growth potential, but caution investors to consider the premium pricing relative to value. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Jan 29
Weighing In On Waters Corporation: Facing A Valuation Headwind
Summary Today, we take a more in-depth look at Waters Corporation, which provides analytical workflow solutions, primarily to the Pharma and Industrial industries. WAT stock has surged 35% since July lows, but analysts are growing increasingly cautious due to valuation concerns, with mixed ratings and tepid price targets. From a historical perspective, the equity now trades at the very top of its historical P/S and P/E ratios. Can WAT shares rally with this valuation headwind? An analysis of Waters Corporation follows in the paragraphs below. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Nov 13
Waters Corp: Short Reinvestment Runway Diminishes High Multiples
Summary Despite a 13% stock appreciation, I maintain a neutral stance on Waters Corporation due to factors outlined in this report. Q3 FY'24 results show mixed regional performance, with China sales still a drag on performance. Opportunities to redeploy surplus funds at an advantage appear limited, reducing compounding ability. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Aug 15
Waters Corp.: Embedded Expectations High Under Present Conditions
Summary Waters continues to present with high-quality business characteristics, including high returns on capital employed and loads of freely available cash. Embedded expectations remain exquisitely high, calling for outsized performance in a time when business returns may be contracting. Present multiples demand high compounding rate of operating capital, which reduces the margin of safety. Reiterate hold. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • May 24
Waters Corporation: Still Struggling A Bit
Summary Waters Corporation reported mediocre first quarter results with the top and bottom line declining. According to fiscal 2024 guidance, the company is still not expecting growth but due to the wide economic moat, we should be optimistic for long-term growth. At this point, Waters Corporation is fairly valued at best and still not a great investment. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Mar 11
Waters Corporation: A Great (Share Price) Run
Summary Waters Corporation stock has seen strong momentum, rising over $100 per share in a short period of time. The company serves regulated markets with high-quality solutions and has a recurring revenue business model. After a tough 2023 and non-convincing outlook for 2024, I am surprised by the share price momentum, making me pleased to take profits in Waters Corporation stock here. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaSeeking Alpha • Dec 28
Waters Corporation: High Quality Niche Company In Mass Spectrometry
Summary Waters is a niche player in the liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, and thermal analysis markets, with a simple and profitable business model. The company's focus on product innovation and acquisitions contributes to its growth and competitive advantage. However, Waters faces headwinds in the Chinese market, which may impact its growth in the near term. Read the full article on Seeking AlphaCEO Compensation Analysis
| Date | Total Compensation | Salary | Company Earnings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 04 2026 | n/a | n/a | US$450m |
| Dec 31 2025 | US$14m | US$1m | US$643m |
| Sep 27 2025 | n/a | n/a | US$649m |
| Jun 28 2025 | n/a | n/a | US$661m |
| Mar 29 2025 | n/a | n/a | US$657m |
| Dec 31 2024 | US$11m | US$1m | US$638m |
| Sep 28 2024 | n/a | n/a | US$623m |
| Jun 29 2024 | n/a | n/a | US$596m |
| Mar 30 2024 | n/a | n/a | US$604m |
| Dec 31 2023 | US$9m | US$1m | US$642m |
| Sep 30 2023 | n/a | n/a | US$653m |
| Jul 01 2023 | n/a | n/a | US$675m |
| Apr 01 2023 | n/a | n/a | US$689m |
| Dec 31 2022 | US$9m | US$1m | US$708m |
| Oct 01 2022 | n/a | n/a | US$697m |
| Jul 02 2022 | n/a | n/a | US$702m |
| Apr 02 2022 | n/a | n/a | US$705m |
| Dec 31 2021 | US$9m | US$1m | US$693m |
| Oct 02 2021 | n/a | n/a | US$695m |
| Jul 03 2021 | n/a | n/a | US$660m |
| Apr 03 2021 | n/a | n/a | US$616m |
| Dec 31 2020 | US$6m | US$285k | US$522m |
Compensation vs Market: Udit's total compensation ($USD13.97M) is about average for companies of similar size in the US market ($USD14.67M).
Compensation vs Earnings: Udit's compensation has increased by more than 20% whilst company earnings have fallen more than 20% in the past year.
CEO
Udit Batra (54 yo)
5.7yrs
Tenure
US$13,973,044
Compensation
Dr. Udit Batra, PhD, has been the President, Chief Executive Officer and Director at Waters Corporation since September 1, 2020. Dr. Batra served as Chief Executive Officer of Life Science business of Merc...
Leadership Team
| Name | Position | Tenure | Compensation | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| President | 5.7yrs | US$13.97m | 0.026% $ 8.8m | |
| Senior VP & CFO | 5yrs | US$3.84m | 0.0053% $ 1.8m | |
| Senior Vice President of Waters Advanced Diagnostics | 5yrs | US$2.97m | 0.0052% $ 1.8m | |
| Senior Vice President of Waters Analytical Sciences | 1.9yrs | US$2.82m | 0.00039% $ 133.8k | |
| Senior Vice President of Global Operations | 3.8yrs | no data | no data | |
| Senior VP & Chief Information Officer | less than a year | no data | no data | |
| Head of Investor Relations | no data | no data | no data | |
| Senior VP | 6.6yrs | US$2.05m | no data | |
| Senior Vice President of Global Communications | 7.3yrs | no data | no data | |
| Senior Vice President of Human Resources | 2.3yrs | no data | no data | |
| SVP of Global Research & Strategy and Interim SVP of Water Materials Sciences | 5.3yrs | no data | no data | |
| Senior Vice President of Transformation | less than a year | no data | no data |
5.0yrs
Average Tenure
48yo
Average Age
Experienced Management: WAT's management team is seasoned and experienced (5 years average tenure).
Board Members
| Name | Position | Tenure | Compensation | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| President | 5.7yrs | US$13.97m | 0.026% $ 8.8m | |
| Independent Director | 7.7yrs | US$363.35k | 0.0029% $ 1.0m | |
| Independent Director | 20yrs | US$343.85k | 0.018% $ 6.2m | |
| Independent Director | 3.2yrs | US$345.35k | 0.0034% $ 1.2m | |
| Independent Director | 3.5yrs | US$330.35k | 0.0046% $ 1.6m | |
| Independent Director | 3.5yrs | US$345.35k | 0.0014% $ 473.5k | |
| Independent Director | less than a year | no data | 0.00050% $ 171.6k | |
| Independent Director | 5.3yrs | US$338.85k | 0.0021% $ 713.7k | |
| Independent Chairman | 8.9yrs | US$506.85k | 0.0054% $ 1.8m | |
| Independent Director | 4.8yrs | US$322.85k | 0.0036% $ 1.2m | |
| Independent Director | 1.8yrs | US$324.35k | 0.00057% $ 195.6k |
4.8yrs
Average Tenure
67yo
Average Age
Experienced Board: WAT's board of directors are considered experienced (4.8 years average tenure).
Company Analysis and Financial Data Status
| Data | Last Updated (UTC time) |
|---|---|
| Company Analysis | 2026/05/07 02:06 |
| End of Day Share Price | 2026/05/07 00:00 |
| Earnings | 2026/04/04 |
| Annual Earnings | 2025/12/31 |
Data Sources
The data used in our company analysis is from S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC. The following data is used in our analysis model to generate this report. Data is normalised which can introduce a delay from the source being available.
| Package | Data | Timeframe | Example US Source * |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company Financials | 10 years |
| |
| Analyst Consensus Estimates | +3 years |
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| Market Prices | 30 years |
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| Ownership | 10 years |
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| Management | 10 years |
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| Key Developments | 10 years |
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* Example for US securities, for non-US equivalent regulatory forms and sources are used.
Unless specified all financial data is based on a yearly period but updated quarterly. This is known as Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) or Last Twelve Month (LTM) Data. Learn more.
Analysis Model and Snowflake
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Industry and Sector Metrics
Our industry and section metrics are calculated every 6 hours by Simply Wall St, details of our process are available on Github.
Analyst Sources
Waters Corporation is covered by 39 analysts. 21 of those analysts submitted the estimates of revenue or earnings used as inputs to our report. Analysts submissions are updated throughout the day.
| Analyst | Institution |
|---|---|
| Catherine Ramsey Schulte | Baird |
| Charles Butler | Barclays |
| Luke Sergott | Barclays |