Waters Corporation (WAT) Earnings Call Transcripts
Waters Corporation's Latest Earnings Call - September 9, 2026
In Q2 2026, Waters Corporation reported a strong performance with 9% organic growth, exceeding guidance expectations. Revenue growth was driven by high single-digit increases across instruments and double-digit growth in the pharmaceutical sector, particularly in China, which saw a remarkable 24% growth. Management maintained a cautious outlook for Q4, projecting mid-single-digit growth, but emphasized strong underlying momentum and potential for overachievement, particularly in the base business. The company is optimistic about 2027, citing strong customer engagement and a favorable market setup.
Reported metrics
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Revenue | $X.XB (beat) |
| Organic Growth | 9% (beat) |
| China Pharma Growth | 24% (positive) |
| Q4 Guidance Growth | mid-single-digit (negative) |
| Cost Synergies Run Rate | $200 million (positive) |
| Pricing Increase | 90 basis points (positive) |
Guidance from management
Management maintained a cautious outlook for Q4 with mid-single-digit growth guidance but expressed optimism for 2027, citing strong underlying momentum and customer engagement.
What management said
Same portfolio and basically satisfying the requirements for something to be local, so that we can compete in local tenders. Especially for academic customers and government-funded customers, there is a requirement in tenders that you must have a certain part of your supply chain local.
Yes, sure. So I mean there is a potential for stimulus in the latter half of the year, very concrete, concretely so. It's not in our guide. And we usually -- as a matter of approach, we usually talk about stimulus impact in retrospect, not prospectively, right? So our academic -- to sort of take a step back, our academic and government end market has been growing double digits overall globally. In China, it's been fl...
What analysts pressed on
Analysts expressed concerns regarding the deceleration in growth expected in Q4 and the challenges faced in the Diagnostics segment, particularly around reagent rental compliance and pricing strategies.
Main topics on the call
- Strong Organic Growth — Waters achieved 9% organic growth in Q2, driven by high single-digit growth in instruments and double-digit growth in pharmaceuticals. CEO Udit Batra noted, "The portfolio has been doing extremely well across the board,"...
- China Market Recovery — China's contribution to growth was significant, with pharma growing 24% in Q2. Batra stated, "China has been accretive to our growth for the first half of the year," highlighting a turnaround from previous declines.
- Cautious Q4 Guidance — Management guided for mid-single-digit growth in Q4, which reflects a deceleration from Q2. Batra mentioned, "We usually talk about step-up and step downs," suggesting a prudent approach to forecasting.
- BD Business Integration Progress — The integration of the BD business is ahead of schedule, with a run rate of $200 million in cost synergies expected by year-end. Batra remarked, "We're far from done," indicating ongoing opportunities for further improve...
Read the full Waters Corporation transcript (September 9, 2026) → Summary generated from the call transcript; every figure above is stated by management on the record.
About Waters Corporation
Waters Corporation (WAT) is a publicly listed company in the Life Sciences Tools and Services industry, within the Health Care sector. It trades on NYSE and is based in US. EarningsCalls.dev maintains a free, full-text archive of its earnings call transcripts — 61 calls on record spanning January 13, 2020 to September 9, 2026. Every transcript is split into speaker-by-speaker segments with headline metrics, free to read or available through our REST API.
Earnings Call History
EarningsCalls.dev has 61 Waters Corporation earnings call transcripts on record, spanning January 13, 2020 to September 9, 2026. Based on this history, Waters Corporation reports quarterly. The most recent call on file is dated September 9, 2026. The full list is below — each row opens the complete, free-to-read transcript.
- Ticker
- WAT
- Exchange
- NYSE
- Country
- US
- Sector
- Health Care
- Industry
- Life Sciences Tools and Services
- Calls on record
- 61
- First call
- January 13, 2020
- Most recent
- September 9, 2026
- Reporting cadence
- quarterly