Waters (WAT) Competitors

Waters (NYSE:WAT) and Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, community ranking, media sentiment, dividends, institutional ownership, valuation and profitability.

Do analysts recommend WAT or A?

Waters currently has a consensus price target of $365.85, suggesting a potential upside of 2.06%. Agilent Technologies has a consensus price target of $144.36, suggesting a potential upside of 13.60%. Given Agilent Technologies' stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Agilent Technologies is more favorable than Waters.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Waters	1 Sell rating(s)	10 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.27
Agilent Technologies	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.50

Does the media prefer WAT or A?

In the previous week, Waters had 11 more articles in the media than Agilent Technologies. MarketBeat recorded 25 mentions for Waters and 14 mentions for Agilent Technologies. Agilent Technologies' average media sentiment score of 1.20 beat Waters' score of 0.30 indicating that Agilent Technologies is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Waters	7 Very Positive mention(s)	5 Positive mention(s)	13 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
Agilent Technologies	11 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is WAT or A more profitable?

Agilent Technologies has a net margin of 21.75% compared to Waters' net margin of 21.43%. Waters' return on equity of 49.93% beat Agilent Technologies' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Waters	21.43%	49.93%	14.96%
Agilent Technologies	21.75%	25.26%	14.00%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of WAT or A?

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

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer WAT or A?

Agilent Technologies received 426 more outperform votes than Waters when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 71.25% of users gave Agilent Technologies an outperform vote while only 53.51% of users gave Waters an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Waters	Outperform Votes 434 53.51%	Underperform Votes 377 46.49%
Agilent Technologies	Outperform Votes 860 71.25%	Underperform Votes 347 28.75%

Which has more volatility and risk, WAT or A?

Waters has a beta of 0.97, meaning that its share price is 3% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Agilent Technologies has a beta of 1.07, meaning that its share price is 7% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, WAT or A?

Agilent Technologies has higher revenue and earnings than Waters. Agilent Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Waters, 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	7.20	$642.23M	$10.48	34.20
Agilent Technologies	$6.83B	5.34	$1.24B	$4.82	26.36

Summary

Agilent Technologies beats Waters on 10 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.