What Happened?
Shares of scientific instruments company Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) jumped 1.9% in the morning session after the company provided an optimistic business update at the Wells Fargo 20th Annual Healthcare Conference.
During the conference on September 4th, CEO Udi Batra highlighted the company's robust performance and strategic growth initiatives. Key points included strong growth across business areas, with new products like Alliance IS and TQ Absolute XR driving significant sales. Batra also noted that the company's China operations are seeing double-digit growth, led by the pharmaceutical sector. This positive outlook follows a strong second-quarter earnings report in early August, where Waters' revenue of $771.3 million surpassed analysts' expectations. The combination of a recent earnings beat and encouraging forward-looking commentary appears to be boosting investor confidence in the company's direction.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $304.91, up 1.7% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Waters Corporation’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 9 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 3 days ago when the stock dropped 2.2% on the news that the major indices continued to retreat (Nasdaq -1.5%, S&P 500 -1.2%) amid profit-taking and renewed concerns about tariffs. The decline was not specific to the company but part of a wider market sell-off, as major indexes like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each fell by over 1%. Investor sentiment soured following the release of the ISM Manufacturing report, which indicated that U.S. manufacturing activity had contracted for the sixth consecutive month.
Adding to the market's anxiety, a court decision ruled that most of the Trump administration's tariffs were illegal. While the tariffs remain in place pending appeal, the news pushed Treasury yields and market volatility higher, contributing to the slump in equities.
Waters Corporation is down 17.2% since the beginning of the year, and at $304.91 per share, it is trading 26.9% below its 52-week high of $417.28 from January 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Waters Corporation’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,492.
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