Waters (WAT) Competitors

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

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 endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Do analysts prefer WAT or BRKR?

Waters presently has a consensus price target of $378.73, suggesting a potential upside of 32.78%. Bruker has a consensus price target of $51.30, suggesting a potential upside of 58.53%. Given Bruker's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Bruker is more favorable than Waters.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Waters	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.47
Bruker	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.45

Is WAT or BRKR more profitable?

Waters has a net margin of 21.71% compared to Bruker's net margin of 2.31%. Waters' return on equity of 38.60% beat Bruker's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Waters	21.71%	38.60%	15.87%
Bruker	2.31%	17.89%	5.38%

Does the media prefer WAT or BRKR?

In the previous week, Waters had 18 more articles in the media than Bruker. MarketBeat recorded 51 mentions for Waters and 33 mentions for Bruker. Waters' average media sentiment score of 0.57 beat Bruker's score of -0.01 indicating that Waters is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Waters	20 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	12 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	4 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Bruker	6 Very Positive mention(s)	9 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	3 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Which has preferable earnings and 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	5.74	$637.83M	$11.09	25.72
Bruker	$3.44B	1.43	$113.10M	$0.52	62.23

Which has more volatility and risk, WAT or BRKR?

Waters has a beta of 1.04, meaning that its share price is 4% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bruker has a beta of 1.16, meaning that its share price is 16% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Waters beats Bruker on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.