NEW YORK – Waters on Wednesday reported that its fourth quarter revenues were up 3 percent compared to the year-ago period, while full-year revenues were up 7 percent.
The company also announced the planned acquisition of light scattering and field-flow fractionation firm Wyatt Technology for $1.36 billion in cash. Waters said the acquisition, expected to close in the second quarter, will help it build out its bioanalytical characterization business.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, Waters' revenues were $858.5 million, up 3 percent from $836.4 million in Q4 2021 and above the consensus Wall Street estimate of $833.2 million.
For Q4, Waters posted net income of $227.1 million, or $3.81 per share, compared to net income of $216.2 million, or $3.52 per share, in Q4 2021. On an adjusted basis, the company reported EPS of $3.84, beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $3.73 per share.
R&D spending in the quarter was up 12 percent year over year to $48.3 million from $43.3 million, while SG&A costs rose 1 percent to $174.3 million from $173.0 million.
Revenues for full-year 2022 were up 7 percent year over year to $2.97 billion from $2.79 billion in 2021, slightly surpassing the Wall Street average estimate of $2.95 billion.
Profits for the year were $707.8 million, or $11.73 per share, compared to $692.8 million, or $11.17 per share, in 2021. Adjusted EPS was $12.02, beating the analyst consensus estimate of $11.93 per share.
For full-year 2022, R&D spending was $176.2 million, up 5 percent from $168.4 million in 2021. SG&A spending was up 5 percent to $658.0 million from $627.0 million the year before.
Waters ended the year with $480.5 million in cash, cash equivalents, and investments.
For Q1 2023, Waters estimates constant currency revenue growth between 4 percent and 6 percent and adjusted EPS between $2.55 and $2.65. Constant currency revenue growth for full-year 2023 is expected to be between 5 percent and 6.5 percent, with anticipated adjusted EPS between $12.55 and $12.75. Analysts are expecting Q1 earnings of $2.67 per share and full-year 2023 earnings of $12.73 per share.
In Wednesday morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of Waters were down 2 percent to $330.98.