Bio-Rad Laboratories vs Waters
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The short version
- Waters is the larger business, with $3.2B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $2.6B for Bio-Rad Laboratories.
- Waters grew revenue faster (7.0%, against 0.7%).
- Waters kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (25.4% operating margin, against 1.8%).
- Waters turned more of its sales into free cash flow (17.1% FCF margin, against 14.5%).
- Waters earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (21.0%, against 0.5%).
| Latest fiscal year | BIO · FY25 | WAT · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $9.9B | $44.6B |
| Revenue | $2.6B | $3.2B |
| Free cash flow | $375M | $540M |
| Net income | $760M | $643M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 0.7% | 7.0% |
| 5-year growth | 0.3% | 6.0% |
| Share count change | −3.3% | 0.3% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 51.9% | 59.3% |
| Operating margin | 1.8% | 25.4% |
| Net margin | 29.4% | 20.3% |
| FCF margin | 14.5% | 17.1% |
| Return on capital | 0.5% | 21.0% |
| Return on equity | 10.8% | 29.3% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | −$329M | $822M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | −1.6x | 0.8x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $296M | $14.7M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 46.3x | — |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
BIO $2.1B
WAT $2.2B
FY17
BIO $2.2B
WAT $2.3B
FY18
BIO $2.3B
WAT $2.4B
FY19
BIO $2.3B
WAT $2.4B
FY20
BIO $2.5B
WAT $2.4B
FY21
BIO $2.9B
WAT $2.8B
FY22
BIO $2.8B
WAT $3.0B
FY23
BIO $2.7B
WAT $3.0B
FY24
BIO $2.6B
WAT $3.0B
FY25
BIO $2.6B
WAT $3.2B
BIO
WAT
Operating margin
FY16
BIO 2.7%
WAT 28.8%
FY17
BIO 5.5%
WAT 28.7%
FY18
BIO −4.5%
WAT 30.6%
FY19
BIO 9.9%
WAT 29.4%
FY20
BIO 16.6%
WAT 27.3%
FY21
BIO 17.1%
WAT 29.5%
FY22
BIO 17.2%
WAT 29.4%
FY23
BIO 12.7%
WAT 27.7%
FY24
BIO 10.5%
WAT 27.9%
FY25
BIO 1.8%
WAT 25.4%
BIO
WAT
Free cash flow
FY16
BIO $74.6M
WAT $610M
FY17
BIO −$7.2M
WAT $663M
FY18
BIO $156M
WAT $570M
FY19
BIO $359M
WAT $603M
FY20
BIO $476M
WAT $738M
FY21
BIO $536M
WAT $711M
FY22
BIO $81.6M
WAT $566M
FY23
BIO $218M
WAT $442M
FY24
BIO $290M
WAT $620M
FY25
BIO $375M
WAT $540M
BIO
WAT
Return on capital
FY16
BIO 1.6%
WAT 43.9%
FY17
BIO 5.0%
WAT 30.7%
FY18
BIO −2.4%
WAT 70.7%
FY19
BIO 4.3%
WAT 58.5%
FY20
BIO 4.8%
WAT 48.3%
FY21
BIO 3.6%
WAT 55.3%
FY22
BIO 3.5%
WAT 49.0%
FY23
BIO 3.1%
WAT 30.2%
FY24
BIO 2.9%
WAT 22.4%
FY25
BIO 0.5%
WAT 21.0%
BIO
WAT
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.