Waters (WAT) Competitors

Waters (NYSE:WAT) and Bruker (NASDAQ:BRKR) are both life sciences tools & services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, media sentiment, institutional ownership and valuation.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in WAT or BRKR?

94.0% of Waters shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 79.5% of Bruker shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Waters shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 27.3% of Bruker shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, WAT or BRKR?

Waters has a beta of 1.1, suggesting that its stock price is 10% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Bruker has a beta of 1.18, suggesting that its stock price is 18% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate WAT or BRKR?

Waters presently has a consensus price target of $381.94, indicating a potential upside of 32.63%. Bruker has a consensus price target of $52.89, indicating a potential upside of 26.86%. Given Waters' stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Waters is more favorable than Bruker.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Waters	0 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.56
Bruker	0 Sell rating(s)	6 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.40

Does the media favor WAT or BRKR?

In the previous week, Waters had 58 more articles in the media than Bruker. MarketBeat recorded 65 mentions for Waters and 7 mentions for Bruker. Bruker's average media sentiment score of 1.16 beat Waters' score of 0.17 indicating that Bruker is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Waters	14 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	28 Neutral mention(s)	7 Negative mention(s)	8 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Bruker	3 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, WAT or BRKR?

Waters has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Bruker. Waters is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Bruker, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Waters	$2.96B	5.79	$637.83M	$11.02	26.13
Bruker	$3.45B	1.83	$113.10M	$0.52	80.18

Is WAT or BRKR more profitable?

Waters has a net margin of 22.02% compared to Bruker's net margin of 2.31%. Waters' return on equity of 41.70% beat Bruker's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Waters	22.02%	41.70%	15.67%
Bruker	2.31%	19.47%	5.95%

Summary

Waters beats Bruker on 12 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.