WATERS CORP /DE/ (WAT)

Waters Corporation is a global provider of analytical instruments and software, with more than 65 years of innovation in chromatography, mass spectrometry and thermal analysis serving the life, materials and food sciences. It designs, manufactures, sells and services high-performance and ultra-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC/UPLC, together "LC") and mass spectrometry (MS) systems. These are often sold as integrated LC-MS systems on common software platforms, alongside support products such as chromatography columns, other consumables and post-warranty service plans. It is a Delaware holding company organized in 1991 that owns Waters Technologies Corporation, its operating subsidiary, and it went public in November 1995. Its acquisitions include TA Instruments (1996), Micromass (1997), Wyatt Technology (2023) and, in February 2026, the Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions businesses of Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) for a total purchase price of $16.8 billion including assumed debt. The BD deal was structured as a Reverse Morris Trust and left BD shareholders with about 39.2% of the combined company.

Through 2025 the company had two operating segments, Waters and TA, aggregated into one reporting segment. The Waters segment covers LC and MS instruments, columns and precision chemistry consumables, and includes Wyatt's light scattering and particle analysis products. Key offerings include the ACQUITY UPLC System, the Alliance iS HPLC systems, Empower chromatography software, size exclusion columns for gene therapy analysis, and Certified Reference Materials and Proficiency Testing products. The TA segment makes thermal analysis, rheometry and calorimetry instruments. After the BD transaction closed, the company reorganized into four segments: Waters Analytical Sciences, Waters Biosciences, Waters Advanced Diagnostics and Waters Materials Sciences. The acquired businesses add products for the collection and transport of diagnostic specimens, instruments and reagents for detecting infectious diseases, healthcare-associated infections and cancers, and flow cytometry and multiomics tools for immunology and cancer research.

Customers include pharmaceutical, clinical, biochemical, industrial, nutritional safety, environmental, academic and governmental organizations that use the products in research and development, quality assurance and other laboratory work. The largest end markets are pharmaceutical and life sciences, where LC is used to understand diseases, identify drugs, develop manufacturing methods and verify the potency and purity of drugs. Other uses include food and beverage analysis, water and air testing, chemical and consumer products, and clinical applications such as newborn screening and therapeutic drug monitoring. Universities, research institutions and regulators such as the FDA and EPA also use the products. TA instruments are used to assess the suitability and stability of fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, polymers, metals and viscous liquids for industrial, consumer and healthcare products and for life science research.

The company manufactures its own silica and polymeric resin packing materials, packs its columns and distributes its own products, which it believes helps ensure product consistency for quality control customers. Its HPLC columns can be used on competitors' LC systems as well as its own. The text does not describe its competitors, suppliers or headquarters location.