Waters (WAT) Competitors

Waters (NYSE:WAT) and Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) are both life sciences tools & services companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, earnings, profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of WAT or BRKR?

94.0% of Waters shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.5% of Bruker shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Waters shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 27.3% of Bruker shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has preferable earnings & valuation, WAT or BRKR?

Waters has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Bruker. Waters is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bruker, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Waters	$2.96B	5.78	$637.83M	$11.02	26.08
Bruker	$3.37B	1.83	$113.10M	$0.52	77.98

Is WAT or BRKR more profitable?

Waters has a net margin of 22.02% compared to Bruker's net margin of 2.31%. Waters' return on equity of 41.70% beat Bruker's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Waters	22.02%	41.70%	15.67%
Bruker	2.31%	19.47%	5.95%

Does the media favor WAT or BRKR?

In the previous week, Waters had 61 more articles in the media than Bruker. MarketBeat recorded 74 mentions for Waters and 13 mentions for Bruker. Bruker's average media sentiment score of 0.71 beat Waters' score of 0.21 indicating that Bruker is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Waters	19 Very Positive mention(s)	11 Positive mention(s)	26 Neutral mention(s)	5 Negative mention(s)	8 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Bruker	7 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate WAT or BRKR?

Waters currently has a consensus price target of $381.94, suggesting a potential upside of 32.90%. Bruker has a consensus price target of $52.89, suggesting a potential upside of 30.43%. Given Waters' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Waters is more favorable than Bruker.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Waters	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.56
Bruker	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Which has more volatility and risk, WAT or BRKR?

Waters has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its share price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bruker has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its share price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Waters beats Bruker on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.