Total sales for the three months ended April 1 increased to $290.2 million from $268.3 million in the year-ago period.
R&D spending jumped to $19 million from $16.7 million year over year.
Profits for the quarter declined to $44.2 million from $46.6 million year over year though per-share income grew to $.42 from $.39.
Waters said it had around $481.2 million in cash and equivalents as of April 1.
"A favorable convergence of market factors including rapid uptake of our proprietary ACQUITY UPLC chromatography technology, robust business growth in India and China and the continued strength of our global industrial accounts, enabled us to perform at a level above our projections and provides a higher level of confidence for the year," Douglas Berthiaume, chairman, president, and CEO, said in a statement.