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- Barclays downgraded analytical instrument maker Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) to Underweight from Equal Weight, and cut its price target to $230 from $270 per share on Monday, citing near-to-medium-term industry headwinds.
- The analyst Luke Sergott sees a need for more clarity over how long and severe the current downtrend in the instrumentation space could be, given the elevated demand over the past three years.
- “The biggest wrench to the instrument recovery is on China. It accounts for 16% of WAT’s business and right now we are seeing major demand issues across the biopharma complex,” Sergott wrote.
- The analyst sees some risk to Waters’ (WAT) Q4 2023 outlook, which the company indicated at $3.52–$3.62 in adjusted earnings per share below Bloomberg consensus last week.
- According to Barclays, even the 2024 outlook is at risk as multiple headwinds continue to hurt biopharma demand through H1 2024, and WAT, in particular, merits a downgrade as “investors favor bioprocessing names over more instrument focused businesses over the next 6-8 months.”
More on Waters
- Waters Corporation (WAT) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript
- Waters Corporation 2023 Q3 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation
- Waters Corporation: Buybacks Ceased, Incremental Returns Languishing (Rating Downgrade)
- Waters Non-GAAP EPS of $2.84 beats by $0.29, revenue of $712M misses by $10.97M
- Waters Q3 2023 Earnings Preview