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Companies / Health Care / Waters Corporation
WAT

Waters Corporation

Health CareMedical InstrumentsS&P 500
Ticker WATMILFORD, MAFiscal year ends DecemberBook value per share $168.76Diluted shares 90.0M

Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) is a global leader in analytical instruments and software serving life sciences, materials science, and food safety markets for more than 65 years. The company operates through four reportable segments following its February 2026 acquisition of Becton Dickinson's Biosciences and… From the company’s description.

Fiscal year 2025 · ends 12-31Changes are against fiscal 2024The amber dot is the latest twelve months, to 2026-07-04
Sales & profitability
$3.17BFY2025
+7.0% year over year
Last 12 mo $4.64B
25.36%FY2025
−2.6 percentage points
Last 12 mo 7.08%
$642.63MFY2025
+0.8% year over year
Last 12 mo $166.14M
25.09%FY2025
−9.8 percentage points
Last 12 mo 1.09%
Cash & financing
$652.55MFY2025
−14.4% year over year
Last 12 mo $549.86M
$539.81MFY2025
−12.9% year over year
Last 12 mo $398.45M
0.55FY2025
Was 0.89× a year earlier
Last 12 mo 0.33
59.7MFY2025
+0.3% year over year
Last 12 mo 90.0M

Margins and return on equity change in ; everything else in percent. Fewer shares and less debt are shown plainly, not as bad news — it depends what you make of buybacks. Dotted labels explain each measure. is shown separately from the annual figures.

What Waters Corporation does

In the company’s own words

Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) is a global leader in analytical instruments and software serving life sciences, materials science, and food safety markets for more than 65 years. The company operates through four reportable segments following its February 2026 acquisition of Becton Dickinson's Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions businesses: Waters Analytical Sciences, Waters Biosciences, Waters Advanced Diagnostics, and Waters Materials Sciences.

The company's core business centers on designing, manufacturing, and servicing high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC), and mass spectrometry (MS) systems, along with complementary chromatography columns and consumable products. Waters also develops advanced software platforms that interface with its instruments and those of other manufacturers. The TA Instruments division provides thermal analysis, rheometry, and calorimetry instruments for materials characterization. The Wyatt Technology portfolio offers nanoparticle analysis and light-scattering solutions for complex biologics development.

Waters serves pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, contract research organizations, chemical manufacturers, food and beverage companies, environmental testing laboratories, and academic institutions worldwide. During 2025, pharmaceutical accounts represented 59 percent of net sales, industrial accounts 30 percent, and academic and governmental institutions 11 percent. The company maintains one of the largest direct sales and service organizations in the analytical instrument industry, with 82 sales offices globally and approximately 4,300 field representatives. Services, including support plans and maintenance, represented over 35 percent of Waters segment sales and more than 25 percent of TA segment sales in 2025.

The company employs approximately 7,900 people, with 39 percent located in the United States. Manufacturing and distribution facilities are strategically located across North America, Europe, and Asia, including major centers in Milford and Taunton, Massachusetts; Wilmslow and Birmingham, England; Wexford, Ireland; and New Castle, Delaware. Waters maintains active research and development programs with approximately 1,200 employees dedicated to product innovation and enhancement.

The company's website is www.waters.com.

Company details
Sector
Health Care
Industry (SIC)
Medical Instruments
Headquarters
MILFORD, MA
Fiscal year end
December
CIK
1000697
SIC
3826

Financial performance, year by year

Fiscal 2013–2025 · USD
$-464.42M$928.85M$2.32B$3.72B$5.11B2013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025Last 12 moLast 12 monthsLast 12 months

The full income statement, balance sheet and cash flow for each of these years — every figure traceable to its filing — is on the Financials tab with a free account.

Ownership

Who owns Waters Corporation — and what changed

Funds as of 2026Q2 · superinvestors as of 2026-06-30

824
funds hold it
2 of 35
superinvestors hold it
$15.37B
held by funds, at market
42.9%
of shares held by funds

Superinvestors in Waters Corporation · what they did last quarter

Terry SmithDECREASED -29.2%
Fundsmith
6.2%of 13F portfolio
Bill NygrenDECREASED -93.6%
Harris Associates (Oakmark)
<0.1%of 13F portfolio

Share of each manager’s reported 13F portfolio. Change is in shares held, since the previous quarter.

Largest fund holders · Waters Corporation’s weight in each

VANGUARD TOTAL STOCK MARKET INDEX FUND
VTI · VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS
0.05%of fund net assets
VANGUARD 500 INDEX FUND
VOO · VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS
0.06%of fund net assets
VANGUARD MID-CAP INDEX FUND
VO · VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS
0.36%of fund net assets
T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund
PRWCX · T. ROWE PRICE CAPITAL APPRECIATION FUND, INC.
1.12%of fund net assets
iShares Core S&P 500 ETF
IVV · iShares Trust
0.06%of fund net assets

Fund ownership is a floor, not a census — pensions, insurers and people holding shares directly are not visible here.

Fund ownership counts N-PORT filers only, so it is a floor rather than a census — pensions, insurers and direct holders are not visible here, and the remainder is not “held by individuals”.

Fund ownership is a subset of institutional 13F ownership — the two describe overlapping populations and must not be added together.

Every fund and institutional holder, quarter by quarter, is on the Ownership tab with a free account.

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