What Happened?
Shares of scientific instruments company Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) fell 12.8% in the morning session after the company announced a definitive agreement to merge with the Biosciences & Diagnostic Solutions business of Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX) in a deal valued at approximately $17.5 billion.
The transaction was structured as a Reverse Morris Trust, a tax-efficient way to combine the two entities. Upon completion, current Waters shareholders are expected to own about 60.8% of the new, larger company. While the deal was intended to create a life science and diagnostics leader, the significant drop in share price suggests investor apprehension.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Waters Corporation? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What Is The Market Telling Us
Waters Corporation’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 8 moves greater than 5% over the last year. Moves this big are rare for Waters Corporation and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
Waters Corporation is down 15.3% since the beginning of the year, and at $312.09 per share, it is trading 25.2% below its 52-week high of $417.28 from January 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Waters Corporation’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,575.
Here at StockStory, we certainly understand the potential of thematic investing. Diverse winners from Microsoft (MSFT) to Alphabet (GOOG), Coca-Cola (KO) to Monster Beverage (MNST) could all have been identified as promising growth stories with a megatrend driving the growth. So, in that spirit, we’ve identified a relatively under-the-radar profitable growth stock benefiting from the rise of AI, available to you FREE via this link.
