Waters Corp reported 9% organic growth in the second quarter of 2024, driven by sustained momentum in its core base business and accelerating demand in China's pharmaceutical segment, CEO Udit Batra told attendees at the Wells Fargo 21st Annual Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026.
The base business, excluding the BD Life Sciences and BD Diagnostics acquisitions, has grown at roughly 8% — high single digits — for seven or eight consecutive quarters, Batra said. Instruments grew in line, as did liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) across geographies. Chemistry growth came in at 16% after adjusting for Liberation Day pull-forward effects.
China reported growth of 6%, or 10% on an adjusted basis, with pharma spending in the region surging 24% in Q2 and more than 50% in Q1. Academia and government research grew in the double digits globally in the first half of the year, including 6% growth in the Americas and double-digit expansion in Asia.
The BD-acquired businesses moved into mid-single-digit growth in Q2. Microbiology grew 4%, while molecular diagnostics advanced in the high single digits. Batra said the Q4 exit rate for the combined acquired business is expected to reach around 6% or higher.
On integration, Waters has achieved $200 million in run-rate cost synergies from the BD deal, reaching the midpoint of its $400 million target — roughly 4% of the cost base — ahead of the original three-year timetable, Batra said. Pricing initiatives in the acquired business produced 90 basis points of price increases in the first fully owned quarter, compared with 0 to 50 basis points in legacy Waters operations historically.
A replacement cycle for microbiology instruments is underway, with 90% of Waters' installed base now in replacement mode and only 10% outside the cycle, primarily branded generics in China. Some 12,000 FXI instruments are installed globally and could eventually be replaced. The HPV assay launch alongside BD COR shipped 14 instruments in Q2 versus four for all of 2023. Reagent rental compliance tracking identified about 700 non-compliant U.S. customers.
Batra noted that Waters identified 77 customers with bona fide reshoring plans, 36 or 37 of which have already broken ground, and 70% of those are existing Waters customers. The six-year compound annual growth rate for instruments stands at 2.5%, below the historical 5% level, and Waters' U.S. market share remains at least 10 percentage points above its European position.
Looking ahead, Batra said there is "no reason for the base business to slow down" and room for overachievement in Q4. Guidance windows extend through the end of 2024, full-year 2025 and 2026, with baseline projections running through 2027 and instrument replacement considerations extending into 2028 and 2029.
The replacement cycle formally began at the end of Q3 2023, roughly two years before the conference timeline.
