Waters Holds Jefferies Buy Rating Despite Target Cut, with BD Merger Poised to Boost Long-Term Growth

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) is one of the best agriculture technology stocks to buy now. On August 4, 2025, Jefferies analyst Tycho Peterson reiterated a Buy rating on Waters while trimming the price target from $435 to $385.

The revision wasn’t a knock on the company’s strength, it was a tempered recalibration after a 12% post-merger dip. Jefferies called the Q2 earnings a “solid beat,” with revenue and EPS both exceeding consensus. A portion of the upside was front-loaded due to tariff pressures, but the firm emphasized that Waters is well-positioned to outperform in the back half of the year.

Amish Mehta SQN Investors

Despite trimming the target, Peterson expressed confidence in the trajectory: raised full-year guidance, strong recurring revenue, and a major upcoming merger with Becton Dickinson’s diagnostics arm all point to scale, synergies, and a wider moat. Jefferies noted that the BD merger is being underappreciated by the market and should ultimately reinforce Waters’ long-term value proposition.

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) is a global leader in analytical instruments and software, serving life sciences, food safety, and agriculture, and offering critical tools in everything from pesticide residue analysis to precision crop science.

While we acknowledge the potential of WAT to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than WAT and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock.

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Disclosure: None.