What Should We Expect From Waters Corporation's (NYSE:WAT) Earnings In The Next Couple Of Years?

The latest earnings announcement Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) released in December 2018 indicated that the company gained from a major tailwind, more than doubling its earnings from the prior year. Below, I've presented key growth figures on how market analysts predict Waters's earnings growth outlook over the next few years and whether the future looks even brighter than the past. I will be using net income excluding extraordinary items in order to exclude one-off volatility which I am not interested in.

View our latest analysis for Waters

Analysts' outlook for the upcoming year seems rather subdued, with earnings increasing by a single digit 7.3%. The growth outlook in the following year seems much more optimistic with rates arriving at double digit 10% compared to today’s earnings, and finally hitting US$684m by 2022.

Even though it’s informative understanding the growth each year relative to today’s value, it may be more insightful evaluating the rate at which the business is moving every year, on average. The pro of this method is that it removes the impact of near term flucuations and accounts for the overarching direction of Waters's earnings trajectory over time, which may be more relevant for long term investors. To calculate this rate, I've appended a line of best fit through analyst consensus of forecasted earnings. The slope of this line is the rate of earnings growth, which in this case is 4.5%. This means, we can assume Waters will grow its earnings by 4.5% every year for the next couple of years.

Next Steps:

For Waters, I've compiled three key aspects you should further research:

1. Financial Health: Does it have a healthy balance sheet? Take a look at our free balance sheet analysis with six simple checks on key factors like leverage and risk.
2. Valuation: What is WAT worth today? Is the stock undervalued, even when its growth outlook is factored into its intrinsic value? The intrinsic value infographic in our free research report helps visualize whether WAT is currently mispriced by the market.
3. Other High-Growth Alternatives: Are there other high-growth stocks you could be holding instead of WAT? Explore our interactive list of stocks with large growth potential to get an idea of what else is out there you may be missing!

We aim to bring you long-term focused research analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material.

If you spot an error that warrants correction, please contact the editor at editorial-team@simplywallst.com. This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. Simply Wall St has no position in the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading.