Waters shares drop after company issues weak first quarter profit forecast
Waters shares fell today as the firm issued a weak first quarter profit outlook. Lower revenue at its new unit overshadowed a positive full year forecast.
Insights:
Waters Corporation announced today, February 9, 2026, that its first-quarter profit forecast has come in below Wall Street estimates, a development that triggered an immediate decline of nearly 12% in the company's shares during premarket trading. The downward revision is tied to a revenue shortfall at the bioscience and diagnostics business recently acquired from Becton, Dickinson and Company .
The acquired unit reported quarterly sales of $766 million, which stands in contrast to the $1.3 billion estimate previously set by analysts. This discrepancy has led to a shift in near-term investor expectations and has affected the expected contribution of the $17.5 billion acquisition to the consolidated results of Waters.
