Waters Corporation management check
WAT · Health Care · Life Sciences Tools & Services · CEO Dr. Batra
Filings as of
4 good · 2 to watch · 0 flagged, across the seven questions below.
- Good
Have owners done well?
Beat its chosen peers$100 invested at the start of fiscal 2021 grew to $154, against $69 for the peer group the company picked itself.
- Good
Does pay follow performance?
Pay rose and fell with returnsOver 5 years, the CEO's pay actually paid (equity valued at the share price) had a correlation of 0.77 with shareholder return. 1 means pay moved in step; below 0, the opposite way.
- Watch
What does the CEO cost owners?
2.2% of net income$14.0m of reported pay in fiscal 2025, against $642.6m of net income.
- n/a
Do they own the stock?
No recent CEO filingLight activity: no buys, $1.4m sold in six months.
- Watch
Are owners being diluted?
Share count growingDiluted shares changed +0.4% a year over the last three fiscal years. Stock-based pay was 1.7% of revenue in the latest year.
- Good
Is leadership stable?
5 leadership filings in 3 yearsCEO in the pay table: Dr. Batra. 5 filings under 8-K item 5.02 (officers or directors leaving or joining, or new pay arrangements) in the last 3 years.
- Good
Are the books clean?
No red flags on fileNo restatements, auditor changes or late filings since 2021.
Against the S&P 500
Each check's score (0–100) and how it compares: the share of ranked S&P 500 companies it matches or beats, and the median in Health Care.
| Check | Score | At or above | Sector median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner returns | 100 | 26 | |
| Pay for performance | 89 | 85 | |
| CEO cost | 22 | 44 | |
| Skin in the game | — | — | 46 |
| Dilution | 45 | 68 | |
| Stable leadership | 100 | 70 | |
| Clean books | 100 | 100 |
Closest peers
Others in Life Sciences Tools & Services, by management score. Waters Corporation is 9th of 60 in its sector.
- 104WATWaters Corporation76
- 173IQVIQVIA71
- 218MTDMettler Toledo67
- 297DHRDanaher Corporation62
- 301TMOThermo Fisher Scientific61
- 374CRLCharles River Laboratories56
- 397AAgilent Technologies53
- 422TECHBio-Techne50
- 444ILMNIllumina, Inc.47
Pay versus performance
From the proxy statement filed April 9, 2026. "Actually paid" values stock awards at the share price, so it rises and falls with the stock.
| Fiscal year | CEO | CEO pay | Actually paid | Other executives (avg) | $100 became | Peers | Net income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Dr. Batra | $14.0m | $10.6m | $3.2m | $154 | $69 | $642.6m |
| 2024 | — | $11.1m | $14.6m | $2.5m | $150 | $72 | $637.8m |
| 2023 | — | $8.7m | −$1.1m | $2.3m | $133 | $76 | $642.2m |
| 2022 | — | $9.4m | $10.8m | $2.7m | $138 | $86 | $707.8m |
| 2021 | — | $8.7m | $19.1m | $2.4m | $151 | $127 | $692.8m |
The board says pay is tied most to adjusted non-GAAP organic net income growth. Its other key measures: Adjusted non-GAAP organic constant currency revenue growth, Adjusted non-GAAP organic net income growth, Relative total shareholder return.
Insiders and the CEO's stake
Light activity: no buys, $1.4m sold in six months.
- SoldChristopher A KueblerDirector$1.4mAug 6, 2026
Leadership and governance on file
- Aug 21, 2026Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Feb 9, 2026Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Nov 1, 2024Leadership change8-K/A 5.02
- Aug 14, 2024Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Oct 24, 2023Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Mar 28, 2023Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Dec 14, 2022Leadership change8-K/A 5.02
- Nov 23, 2022Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Aug 2, 2022Leadership change8-K 5.02
- Apr 1, 2022Leadership change8-K 5.02
Latest shareholder vote results: May 22, 2026, including the say-on-pay vote.
Where the money went
Over 2021–2025: $1.4bn returned to owners in buybacks and dividends, 41% of net income, and $208.2m of pay in stock.
| Fiscal year | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.8bn | $3.0bn | $3.0bn | $3.0bn | $3.2bn |
| Net income | $692.8m | $707.8m | $642.2m | $637.8m | $642.6m |
| Stock-based pay | $29.9m | $42.6m | $36.9m | $44.7m | $54.1m |
| Buybacks | $648.9m | $626.1m | $70.3m | $13.5m | $14.7m |
| Dividends | — | — | — | — | — |
| Diluted shares | 62m | 60m | 59m | 60m | 60m |
Educational only, not investment advice. Figures are as filed with the SEC: pay from the proxy's pay-versus-performance table, capital allocation from 10-K XBRL data, insider trades from Form 4s over the last six months, events from the last 5 years of filings. The peer group is the one the company chose. See the method.