Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) Scheduled to Post Earnings on Tuesday

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) is scheduled to be announcing its earnings results before the market opens on Tuesday, July 25th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $1.71 per share for the quarter. Waters Corporation has set its FY17 guidance at $7.20-7.40 EPS and its Q2 guidance at $1.65-1.75 EPS.

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The medical instruments supplier reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $497.97 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $489.37 million. Waters Corporation had a return on equity of 24.30% and a net margin of 24.34%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. On average, analysts expect Waters Corporation to post $7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year and $8.04 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Waters Corporation (WAT) opened at 185.24 on Friday. Waters Corporation has a 52 week low of $133.35 and a 52 week high of $187.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.17 and a beta of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $183.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $163.66.

Waters Corporation declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Thursday, May 11th that allows the company to buyback $1.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the medical instruments supplier to repurchase up to 7.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WAT. Bank of America Corporation reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $192.00 price objective (up from $180.00) on shares of Waters Corporation in a research report on Friday. Deutsche Bank AG downgraded Waters Corporation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $183.00 to $194.00 in a research report on Monday, July 10th. Cowen and Company restated a “hold” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Waters Corporation in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Jefferies Group LLC restated a “hold” rating and issued a $170.00 target price on shares of Waters Corporation in a research report on Friday, July 14th. Finally, Zacks Investment Research downgraded Waters Corporation from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. The company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $178.85.

In other Waters Corporation news, SVP Elizabeth B. Rae sold 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $177.21, for a total value of $2,835,360.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 14,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,503,800.09. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Rohit Khanna sold 23,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $186.90, for a total value of $4,298,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 27,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,060,691.30. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 165,940 shares of company stock worth $29,321,461 in the last ninety days. 5.07% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Waters Corporation Company Profile

Waters Corporation is an analytical instrument manufacturer. The Company operates through two segments: Waters and TA. It designs, manufactures, sells and services high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC and together with HPLC, referred to as LC) and mass spectrometry (MS) technology systems and support products, including chromatography columns, other consumable products and post-warranty service plans.