NEW YORK – Jefferies on Monday upgraded shares of Waters to a "Buy" rating and raised its price target from $355 to $415 per share.
The upgrade is based on the bank's "increased conviction" that a liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry replacement cycle is underway, Jefferies analyst Tycho Peterson wrote in a note to investors.
He said that such cycles typically result in a stock's increase of about 300 basis points and that Waters is poised to benefit given its refreshed LC-MS portfolio, including its Alliance iS LC instruments. Peterson added that Waters is attractive due to its exposure to the China and India markets and the generic drug business as well as "emerging growth drivers" including good laboratory practice (GLP) and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) testing.
In Tuesday afternoon trading on Nasdaq, Waters shares were up 3 percent to $358.93.