Waters (WAT) Investor Day 2025 summary

Recent accomplishments and transformation

• Regained commercial momentum by revitalizing instrument replacement, increasing service plan attachment rates, and expanding e-commerce adoption for chemistry sales.

• Launched innovative products like Alliance iS, Xevo TQ Absolute, and MaxPeak Premier Columns, driving rapid uptake and market share gains.

• Entered faster-growing adjacencies such as biopharma separations, clinical LC-MS, battery testing, and bioanalytical characterization, supported by increased R&D and strategic acquisitions.

• Achieved high single-digit growth in Q4 2024, with double-digit growth in Pharma and broad-based momentum across geographies and segments; constant currency sales growth of +4% in Q3 and +8% in Q4.

• Improved recurring revenue mix and maintained industry-leading margins through a simple, repeatable business model.

Strategic direction and growth outlook

• Entering a new era of growth, focused on execution excellence, pioneering innovation, and scaling in high-growth areas, building on transformative value creation.

• Targeting high single-digit to high single-digit plus growth, up from a historical 6%, driven by India generics, GLP-1 testing, biologics, PFAS testing, and enhanced pricing.

• The company targets high-volume, regulated markets with large unmet needs, including pharma, clinical, food, environment, and materials, representing a $19B total addressable market.

• Key growth drivers for the next several years include India generics (+70-100bps/yr), GLP-1 testing (+30bps/yr), biologics (+40bps/yr), and PFAS testing (+30bps/yr).

• Instrument replacement cycle expected to add 100-150 basis points of growth over the next 2-3 years.

Execution excellence and operational focus

• Embedding execution excellence through systematic approaches, aiming for 500 basis points expansion in service plan attachment and 15 percentage points growth in e-commerce chemistry revenue over five years.

• Expanding contract organization revenue from 25% to 30% of Pharma sales and increasing chemistry sales to large molecule applications from 40% to 50% by 2030.

• Sustaining 150-200 basis points of price contribution annually, supported by strong recurring revenue and value-based selling.

• Investing in analytics, AI, and digital tools to enhance service, contract renewal, and customer experience.

• Maintaining flexibility in reinvestment rates, prioritizing long-term growth initiatives even during market volatility.