Waters posts sales growth in Q4, full year

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By Laura Finaldi

The stock of Waters Corporation has recovered roughly half its loss from a 5-percent drop on Tuesday morning after the Milford scientific instrument company reported modest gains in sales for the fourth quarter of 2016 and for the entire year.

Waters reported fourth quarter sales of $629 million, a 7-percent increase over the fourth quarter of 2015, when sales were $587 million. Earnings per diluted share also increased 17 percent year-over-year from $1.83 in 2015 to $2.15 in 2016.

All of the company’s markets saw growth in the fourth quarter. Sales from the pharmaceutical market grew by 4 percent, industrial market sales grew 13 percent, and government and academic sales grew by 5 percent. Geographically, sales in the Asian market saw the most growth (16 percent), while Europe (4 percent) and the Americas (2 percent) saw more modest gains.

For the year, sales grew 6 percent to $2.2 billion, compared to $2 billion in 2015, and earnings per share grew by 13 percent. Pharmaceutical sales grew by 9 percent in 2016, followed by industrial (6 percent), and government and academic sales (4 percent). Asia also led geographic sales growth for the year, at 13 percent, followed by 4 percent in Europe and 2 percent in the Americas.

Although Waters stock fell from $148.94 on Monday to a low of $138.86 after earnings were announced Tuesday, the company’s stock spiked back to over $144 on Wednesday and was trading at $142.27 as of Thursday morning.