Waters (WAT) Competitors $349.93 -2.48 (-0.70%) As of 03:58 PM Eastern Add Compare Share Share Competitors Stock AnalysisAnalyst ForecastsChartCompetitorsEarningsFinancialsHeadlinesInsider TradesOptions ChainOwnershipSEC FilingsShort InterestSustainabilityTrendsBuy This Stock WAT vs. A, MTD, ILMN, TECH, CRL, BIO, BRKR, PACB, HBIO, and TMOShould you be buying Waters stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Waters include Agilent Technologies (A), Mettler-Toledo International (MTD), Illumina (ILMN), Bio-Techne (TECH), Charles River Laboratories International (CRL), Bio-Rad Laboratories (BIO), Bruker (BRKR), Pacific Biosciences of California (PACB), Harvard Bioscience (HBIO), and Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO). These companies are all part of the "life sciences tools & services" industry. Waters vs. Its Competitors Agilent Technologies Mettler-Toledo International Illumina Bio-Techne Charles River Laboratories International Bio-Rad Laboratories Bruker Pacific Biosciences of California Harvard Bioscience Thermo Fisher Scientific Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) and Waters (NYSE:WAT) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, earnings, valuation, profitability, risk, dividends and media sentiment. Is A or WAT more profitable? Waters has a net margin of 22.02% compared to Agilent Technologies' net margin of 17.59%. Waters' return on equity of 41.70% beat Agilent Technologies' return on equity.Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets Agilent Technologies17.59% 25.92% 13.24% Waters 22.02%41.70%15.67% Does the media favor A or WAT? In the previous week, Waters had 28 more articles in the media than Agilent Technologies. MarketBeat recorded 45 mentions for Waters and 17 mentions for Agilent Technologies. Agilent Technologies' average media sentiment score of 1.13 beat Waters' score of 0.25 indicating that Agilent Technologies is being referred to more favorably in the media. Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment Agilent Technologies 12 Very Positive mention(s) 0 Positive mention(s) 4 Neutral mention(s) 0 Negative mention(s) 0 Very Negative mention(s) Positive Waters 13 Very Positive mention(s) 6 Positive mention(s) 18 Neutral mention(s) 6 Negative mention(s) 1 Very Negative mention(s) Neutral Which has higher earnings & valuation, A or WAT? Agilent Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Waters. Agilent Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Waters, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks. CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings RatioAgilent Technologies$6.51B5.15$1.29B$4.0529.15Waters$2.96B7.04$637.83M$11.0231.75 Which has more volatility & risk, A or WAT? Agilent Technologies has a beta of 1.23, meaning that its stock price is 23% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Waters has a beta of 1.11, meaning that its stock price is 11% more volatile than the S&P 500. Do institutionals & insiders believe in A or WAT? 94.0% of Waters shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Waters shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term. Do analysts prefer A or WAT? Agilent Technologies currently has a consensus target price of $140.92, indicating a potential upside of 19.37%. Waters has a consensus target price of $388.00, indicating a potential upside of 10.88%. Given Agilent Technologies' higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Agilent Technologies is more favorable than Waters.Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score Agilent Technologies 0 Sell rating(s) 6 Hold rating(s) 7 Buy rating(s) 0 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.54Waters 0 Sell rating(s) 9 Hold rating(s) 7 Buy rating(s) 2 Strong Buy rating(s) 2.61 SummaryWaters beats Agilent Technologies on 11 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks. Get Waters News Delivered to You Automatically Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for WAT and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter. Email Address New MarketBeat Followers Over TimeWhat are MarkeBeat Followers?This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding WAT and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period. Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over TimeWhat is Media Sentiment?This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.Skip Chart WAT vs. The Competition Export to ExcelMetricWatersMED INSTRUMENTS IndustryMedical SectorNYSE ExchangeMarket Cap$20.82B$6.87B$5.46B$20.33BDividend YieldN/A1.04%5.36%3.78%P/E Ratio31.7526.6326.4627.52Price / Sales7.0475.93404.5438.36Price / Cash23.3021.4025.8817.85Price / Book11.364.757.924.54Net Income$637.83M$171.62M$3.15B$985.09M7 Day Performance2.04%1.78%2.20%1.70%1 Month Performance0.37%-0.92%4.39%4.05%1 Year Performance20.62%18.96%32.26%12.20% Waters Competitors List Export to ExcelCompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)WATWaters4.5183 of 5 stars$349.93-0.7%$388.00+10.9%+21.4%$20.82B$2.96B31.758,200Trending NewsAAgilent Technologies4.5938 of 5 stars$116.21+0.6%$140.15+20.6%-8.0%$33.01B$6.51B28.6917,900Positive NewsAnalyst UpgradeMTDMettler-Toledo International4.6071 of 5 stars$1,164.53+0.9%$1,302.11+11.8%-15.3%$24.20B$3.87B29.0417,300Positive NewsILMNIllumina4.8468 of 5 stars$90.61+0.1%$126.94+40.1%-9.2%$14.34B$4.34B-14.939,030Positive NewsTECHBio-Techne4.9748 of 5 stars$49.30-1.2%$72.00+46.0%-27.6%$7.73B$1.16B60.123,100Positive NewsCRLCharles River Laboratories International4.4464 of 5 stars$147.410.0%$171.85+16.6%-27.4%$7.24B$4.05B-226.7920,100Analyst DowngradeBIOBio-Rad Laboratories4.8942 of 5 stars$235.92-0.3%$324.25+37.4%-10.7%$6.42B$2.57B-3.107,700Positive NewsBRKRBruker4.9053 of 5 stars$38.73+1.7%$56.22+45.2%-34.5%$5.87B$3.37B74.4811,396PACBPacific Biosciences of California2.1379 of 5 stars$1.19-6.3%$2.13+79.1%-5.8%$357.10M$154.01M-0.43730HBIOHarvard Bioscience4.1906 of 5 stars$0.51-3.4%$3.00+484.0%-83.9%$22.71M$94.14M-0.39490Trending NewsTMOThermo Fisher Scientific4.9926 of 5 stars$400.26+0.6%$605.30+51.2%-26.3%$151.09B$42.88B23.48125,000Positive News Related Companies and Tools Related Companies A Competitors MTD Competitors ILMN Competitors TECH Competitors CRL Competitors BIO Competitors BRKR Competitors PACB Competitors HBIO Competitors TMO Competitors Top 10 Stock Comparisons Semiconductor Stocks Artificial Intelligence Stocks Growth Stocks Magnificent Seven Stocks Pharmaceutical Stocks Ecommerce Stocks Bitcoin Stocks Meme Stocks Cryptocurrency Stocks Cybersecurity Stocks This page (NYSE:WAT) was last updated on 6/30/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff From Our PartnersAI Meltdown Imminent: Dump These Stocks Now!If you have any money in the markets, especially in AI stocks… Please click here to see Elon Musk’s new inv...Paradigm Press | SponsoredThis Crypto Is Set to Explode in JanuaryFree summit: How to profit from the Coinbase-Deribit deal Our hedge fund experts know exactly what this mea...Crypto 101 Media | Sponsored379 passengers walked away from thisElon Musk just wrote a $51 million check to back this material’s next phase… Because it’s not just saving l...True Market Insiders | SponsoredMarket Panic: Trump Just Dropped a Bomb on Your Stockstock Market Panic: Trump Just Dropped a Bomb on Your Stocks The market is in freefall—and Trump's new tarif...American Alternative | SponsoredWhite House to reset Social Security?Elon Musk's parting DOGE gift looks set to shock America... A single announcement by July 22nd could soon b...Altimetry | SponsoredCrypto Is Pumping Again – Now Comes the Real OpportunityThis same signal has appeared twice before in the past 8 years — both times, it kicked off major moves in cryp...Crypto Swap Profits | Sponsored3..2..1.. AI 2.0 ignition (don’t sleep on this)I just put together an urgent new presentation that you need to see right away. In short: I believe we are...Timothy Sykes | SponsoredNvidia’s Huang: AI is going to need 100x more power12Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang didn't mince words. After Nvidia's latest earnings call, Huang said AI now requires...Weiss Ratings | Sponsored Adding Choose a watchlist: Watchlist Adding You have already added ten stocks to your watchlist. Upgrade to MarketBeat All Access to add more stocks to your watchlist. Adding Waters Corporation Please log in to your account or sign up in order to add this asset to your watchlist. Share Waters With A Colleague Link copied to clipboard. Get 30 Days of MarketBeat All Access for Free Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools. Start Your 30-Day Trial MarketBeat All Access Features Best-in-Class Portfolio Monitoring Get personalized stock ideas. Compare portfolio to indices. Check stock news, ratings, SEC filings, and more. Stock Ideas and Recommendations See daily stock ideas from top analysts. Receive short-term trading ideas from MarketBeat. Identify trending stocks on social media. Advanced Stock Screeners and Research Tools Use our seven stock screeners to find suitable stocks. Stay informed with MarketBeat's real-time news. Export data to Excel for personal analysis. Sign in to your free account to enjoy these benefits In-depth profiles and analysis for 20,000 public companies. Real-time analyst ratings, insider transactions, earnings data, and more. Our daily ratings and market update email newsletter. Sign in to your free account to enjoy all that MarketBeat has to offer. Sign In Create Account Your Email Address: Email Address Required Your Password: Password Required Log In or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google Forgot your password? Your Email Address: Please enter your email address. Please enter a valid email address Choose a Password: Please enter your password. Your password must be at least 8 characters long and contain at least 1 number, 1 letter, and 1 special character. Create My Account (Free) or Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Google By creating a free account, you agree to our terms of service. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
