Waters Corporation

Welcome to the Waters Corporation's second quarter 2026 financial results conference call. All participants will be in listen-only mode until the question and answer session begins. This call is being recorded. If anyone has objections, please disconnect at this time. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Mr. Caspar Tudor, head of investor relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Leila, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Waters Corporation's second quarter earnings call. Joining me today are Dr. Udit Batra, our President and Chief Executive Officer, and Amol Chaubal, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I will cover the cautionary language. In this conference call, we will make various forward-looking statements regarding future events or future financial performance of the company, including the financial and operational impact of Waters Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions businesses acquired from Becton Dickinson & Company, or BD, will provide guidance regarding possible future results and commentary on potential market and business conditions that may impact Waters Corporation over the third quarter of 2026 and full year 2026. These statements are only our present expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Please see the risk factors included within our Form 10-K, our Form 10-Qs, our other SEC filings, and the cautionary language included in this morning's earnings release. During today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measures are attached to our earnings release and in the appendix of the slide presentation accompanying today's call. Unless stated otherwise, all organic revenue growth rates are presented on a constant currency basis and are in comparison to the second quarter of 2025. for acquired business revenue. Unless stated otherwise, all growth rates are presented on an as-reported basis, covering the current period in comparison to the revenue as reported by BD for the prior year comparable period that predates Waters' ownership. Finally, we do not intend to update our guidance, predictions, or projections except as part of a regularly scheduled earnings release or as otherwise required by law. On today's call, Udit will begin with our key messages and business highlights. Amol will then review our financial results and updated guidance. After that, we will open up the lines for questions. I'll now turn the call over to Udit.

Thank you, Caspar, and good morning, everyone. We delivered an excellent second quarter, executing ahead of guidance across all four divisions as a powerful new era of growth extends across waters. We sustained industry-leading results at our legacy businesses, fueled by strong commercial performance and pioneering innovation in our product portfolio, while recovery in our end markets broadened into previously lagging customer segments and further augmented our growth. We build outstanding momentum in our newly acquired businesses in their first full quarter under Waters' leadership, driving an acceleration to mid-single-digit growth as the commercial actions from our 180-day plan have quickly taken hold and are already reshaping their trajectory. We also took further decisive steps towards building our new platform for sustained long-term growth, executing flawlessly on our revenue synergies and cost actions as we enter our next phase of growth. Over the last few months, I've visited many sites and many customers. Our teams are executing with rigor and speed and advancing our value creation roadmap faster than we expected. I want to thank them for their dedication before we turn to the results. In the second quarter, total company as reported revenue was US$1.645 billion, comprising of US$828 million of organic revenue and US$817 million of Waters Bioscience and Diagnostic Solutions. Organic revenue grew 7% as reported and 9% in constant currency, exceeding the high end of our constant currency guidance range by approximately 100 basis points, with orders again outpacing sales. Underlying growth was double digits as this performance absorbed a 1% headwind from pull forward in last year's second quarter. Bioscience and diagnostic solutions revenue also exceeded our guidance. Revenue outpaced guidance by $15 million and grew 4% on a reported basis versus the prior year comparable period. With these businesses under our leadership for the entirety of the quarter, we achieved a 400 basis point improvement in reported growth versus last quarter's flat full quarter growth rate. Our strong momentum and disciplined cost management offset adverse foreign exchange translation as the US dollar strengthened since our last call. Adjusted EPS grew 3% to $3.05, landing at the high end of our guidance rate. Let me now cover these drivers of strength in more detail. Beginning with the analytical sciences division, growth was 7% as reported and 9% in constant currency, with instruments up 8%, chemistry up 10%, and service up 9%. We drew double digits in both our pharma and academic and government end markets for the second consecutive quarter, driven by improving market conditions, strong commercial execution, and the merits of new product innovation in our industry-leading portfolio. Thanks to continued cross-divisional collaboration, we placed approximately 10 million of mass spec instruments into pharma BMPK settings in the quarter, as early revenue synergies continued to build. In analytical sciences, we have continued to build our innovation leadership position with a number of new product launches in recent months. At ASMS, we launched two new high-resolution mass spec products, the cyclic IMS P20 and the Zevo MRT P10. Both deliver step-change improvements in sensitivity as the cyclic IMS P20 raises the bar in structural and spatial omics. While the Zevo MRT-P10 not only sets a new standard for speed and throughput in multi-omics, but does so in a highly efficient benchtop format, which is unique in high resolution mass spec. In bioseparations, we launched our BioResolve peptide and GTX Resolve lipid columns. both delivered industry-first particle optimization, reliably separating structurally and chemically similar impurities in GLP-1 peptides, insulin, and lipid nanoparticles with twice the resolving power and sensitivity of competing products. The biosciences division grew 3% as reported, improving 400 basis points from the 1% full quarter decline in the first quarter. Excluding China, which represented a 2% headwind to growth, the division grew 5%. The growth acceleration was primarily driven by flow clinical, which grew 8% on a reported basis, improving versus both the 7% partial growth rate and flat full quarter growth rate in the first quarter. Performance was led by mid-teens growth outside of China, reflecting sharpened execution, greater commercial activity from new KPIs and early benefits of our incremental pricing initiatives. In flow research, reagents returned to positive growth in the quarter, reflecting an improvement in customer activity levels. At the divisional level, advanced diagnostics grew 7% on a reported basis, even with China remaining a notable drag on growth due to ongoing DRG headwinds. Within the division, the acquired diagnostics solutions business grew 5% as reported, accelerating versus the 1% full quarter growth rate in Q1. Excluding China, growth was 7%. In microbiology, we grew mid-single digits as we drove relentless focus on execution, improved utilization of Bactec bottles, and began to enact list price increases across the portfolio. In molecular diagnostics and point of care, we grew high single digits, driven by strong placements in molecular diagnostics related to HPV testing on BD core. Also within the division, the organic clinical business unit grew 15% as reported and 14% in constant currency led by double-digit strength in the Americas and Europe. We recently launched the Zivo TQ Absolute XR IVD Mass Spec, the industry's most sensitive and robust clinical IVD system. It delivers five times greater sensitivity and a six-fold increase in robustness for critical applications including women's health, cancer assessment, and toxicology, further expanding our technological advantage in the IVD market. The material science division returned to high single digit growth in constant currency. Strength was driven by electronics research testing for semiconductor and data center applications, together with advanced materials testing in aerospace and defense applications. Our leadership in battery safety testing was recently expanded with the launch of our point cell differential scanning calorimeter, which represents a significant advancement in battery thermal analysis, simultaneously capturing thermal, evolved gas and electrochemical data. Our organic growth results reflect a successful strategy that has played out over the past several years across commercial execution, new product innovation, and entering faster growing adjacencies. Having delivered in each of these areas, we have achieved our promise of high single-digit growth over the past seven quarters. This is the long-term trajectory Thank you for joining us. Looking within analytical sciences, the breadth of this performance is clear. In pharma, we've grown double digits this year, driven by robust capex spending trends across large pharma, contract organizations, and generics. This has been augmented by our idiosyncratic growth drivers tied to GLP-1 testing, India, and biologics, which includes bioseparations and bioanalytical characterization. Notably though, U.S. biotech and CROs have improved over the past two quarters, adding a new layer of demand to the recovery. At the same time, we've seen a strong recovery from our pharma customers in China, with double-digit growth in the first half of the year, accelerating versus last year's 6% growth rate, and making China now accretive to our growth again. This reflects excellent commercial execution alongside a resurgence in biotech, CDMOs, and CRO activity as Chinese companies, buoyed by the commercial success of their research and outlicensing model, attract investment and reinvest into R&D. Beyond the near-term recovery, this points to a broader structural tailwind. As Chinese discovery output continues to scale and the outlicensing model matures, we are well indexed to the theme since molecules developed on waters platforms transfer cleanly into Western development and regulatory pathways. In our non-pharma end market, we have seen growth rate acceleration led by double-digit growth in academic and government. Performance was broad-based across geographies, including a return to positive growth in the Americas in the second quarter. In industrial, which drew low single digits in the analytical science division, PFAS has remained a source of strength and has grown double digits this year. Our growth is led by food analysis, which has now surpassed environmental analysis as our largest PFAS application for the first time. The broad strength of our customers bodes well for the instrument replacement cycle, where we remain firmly in the middle innings with a significant runway still ahead. Despite recent strong growth trends, our instrument revenue has grown only 2.5% on an organic constant currency CAGR basis versus 2019, well below the 5% long-term historical growth rate from 2009 to 2019. This gap reflects the multi-phase recovery that has emerged since the middle of 2024, which has elongated the replacement cycle beyond what has historically been a two to three-year typical duration. Beyond the replacement cycle, pharma reshoring also represents an increasingly well-defined incremental growth opportunity for waters in the years ahead. We've been tracking 76 expansion sites linked to U.S. pharma investment announcements. Roughly half are now under active construction, representing approximately $100 billion in capex spend, confirming that at least a portion of these commitments are beginning to translate into real capital deployment on the ground. Weighing the focus, modality, and analytical intensity of each site, we expect instrument outfitting to drive a revenue tailwind for our analytical sciences division over the next three to five years. As sites move from construction to equipping, we are well positioned to capture a disproportionate share of the resulting demand, given that approximately 70% of the tracked sites are linked to customer accounts where Waters holds a high market share. We are already seeing funnel activity tied to a number of these sites. In our acquired businesses, we have continued to drive positive impact from our 180-day growth revitalization plan with each of our three near-term rapid execution initiatives already contributing to our results. Our first priority, driving urgency, accountability, and transparency, The commercial discipline and KPI focus we quickly established at the close of the transaction is now embedded and compounding across the acquired businesses. As a result, funnel conversion rates are rising, field activity has stepped up materially, and the outbound momentum we built in Q1 has progressed further through the second quarter. On our second priority, pricing excellence and contract compliance, We've made fast moves to embed the same discipline at Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions that we established at Legacy Waters. We've hired dedicated pricing directors for each division, structured our 2026 and 2027 pricing actions to drive incremental price realization, and have already enacted list price increases across parts of the acquired portfolio, achieving Thank you for joining us. To supplement this effort, we have brought in a dedicated operational leader with deep industry experience who has managed similar programs before. On our third priority, regaining share in flow research, we've made meaningful progress across several fronts. In China, we have significantly improved the speed and efficiency of export license approvals, generating twice the number of license approvals in the second quarter versus the first full quarter. and helping to reverse the share loss dynamics that constrain prior performance. The results have been tangible. China flow research, which declined 30% in the full first quarter, improved to mid single digit decline in the second quarter, a swing of approximately 25 percentage points. Meanwhile, our localized manufacturing program for flow instruments is well underway and expected to begin contributing to growth in the fourth quarter. With a successful transformation behind him, Ching Lee, our general manager for the ASD China business, has now taken on the added responsibility of revitalizing growth for biosciences in China. Ching and his team are moving decisively to implement new commercial rigor and accountability while sharpening our focus on the pharma market given the resurgence in Chinese biotech, CDMO, and CRO activity. Across our geographies, we also have an attractive share recapture and instrument replacement opportunity in flow cytometry with the FACTS DISCOVER A7 cell analyzer, which we unveiled at CYTO and is set to launch on September 15th. The A7 fills a key gap in our portfolio while setting a new benchmark in spectral flow cytometry, bringing IBD level standardization and reproducibility to a spectral analyzer for the first time. Leveraging automation and self-calibration, it also enables workflows to easily transition between instruments and users, representing meaningful innovation for our customers. In advanced diagnostics, PacTech FXI, our next-generation blood culture system, recently received FDA 510K clearance, enabling U.S. commercializations as we scale the launch globally in microbiology. With placements now beginning in Japan and Europe, we're excited about the instrument replacement potential that PacTech FXI holds, particularly given the early customer feedback we've received. PacTech FXI is a groundbreaking system. It detects bloodstream infections up to three hours faster than competing systems, offers two to three times the input capacity, and provides customers with meaningful productivity advantages and labor cost savings. It leads across each of the critical attributes that matter to our customers and is now the flagship product of the industry. Depending on daily volume, customers can expect up to 10 days of annualized time savings versus the prior generation systems. And we are already seeing benefits in practice as one of our earlier doctor sites in Japan reported an 80% reduction in hands-on time after switching to FXI. With these notable new advantages, the funnel is building and the commercial opportunity ahead is substantial. With over 12,000 aged back-tech systems past due for replacement, we have a large, well-defined install base that we intend to convert. Much like how Alliance IS has driven durable replacement revenue in HPLC, we expect Bactech FXI to be a multi-year growth engine in microbiology. Beyond our near-term execution, we're also making early strides into high growth adjacency in biosciences that we believe will become increasingly important over time. As AI models grow more capable of designing new antibodies, proteins, and genetic constructs, the limiting factor is shifting from computation to biology. Generating large-scale immune and disease datasets, these models depend on and require physical biology testing. Clositometry is well positioned as an enabling hardware layer given its unique ability to capture high parameter single cell resolution at real time clinical scale. Our recently announced strategic partnership with IMU Biosciences is an early proof point of our important role supporting next generation immune profiling and AI enabled precision medicine in clinical diagnostic applications. IMU has raised over $50 million to date as it accelerates its work to decode the immune system and transform how we understand, diagnose, and treat disease. Together, we're scaling a precision immunology platform for population-wide immune mapping and disease characterization in what is expected to become the world's largest immune dataset. Turning now to our cost actions and updated guidance. We have completed our planned cost actions for 2026 as our teams flawlessly implemented our restructuring plan with speed and discipline. In operations, we've unlocked spend control driven by early direct procurement savings, restructured field operations and service, and begun optimizing manufacturing and supply chain costs. Across functions, we've made significant progress on cost efficiency by optimizing spans and layers, Eliminating redundancy and achieving a leaner, centralized cost structure. These actions also carry an important strategic dimension beyond the cost benefit. They sharpen the structure of acquired businesses, reduce bureaucracy, and accelerate information flow. They also support the direction of accountability and commercial focus that will make them structurally stronger over time. Together, these actions reflect $75 million in cumulative cost savings expected in 2026, supporting solid margin progression in the second half of the year. They also represent approximately $200 million of expected run rate savings, placing us ahead of schedule that we had already laid out. They put us in a strong position to hit our margin expansion goals and drive mid-teens adjusted EPS, Over the next several years. To close, let me frame our 2026 guidance and give an update on our value creation roadmap. With momentum building across our portfolio and in markets, we are raising every component of our full year 2026 guidance, which Amol will detail shortly. Our growth strategy has delivered and Legacy Waters is now a sustainable high single digit grower. For the acquired businesses, we are running ahead of our goals for the first half of the year and our position for growth acceleration in the second half of the year. The 180-day plan has progressed rapidly. Revenue synergies are already contributing to our results and we are launching category-defining new products. This positions us to build further momentum in the second half where cross-selling synergies are joined by instrument replacement, service plan attachment, and digital channel adoption. In total, we remain well on track to deliver $50 million of revenue synergies this year. In biosciences, we will benefit from China localization and new commercial leadership in the second half, positioning us well with the local biotech and CDMO community and driving faster growth, while the launch of FACTS Discover A7 coincides nicely with a strengthening biotech and academic end market in the U.S. In advanced diagnostics, we delivered high single-digit growth despite a 2% China DRG headwind that rolls into the baseline in the fourth quarter. With BACTEC FXI and OnClarity HPV at-home testing solution now launching, the setup for the second half is excellent. As end-market conditions continue to strengthen and our growth strategy compounds, Waters is better positioned today than at any point in recent history with a broad portfolio, A larger install base and the cleanest set of growth catalysts we've ever had. With that, I will now turn the call over to Amol to cover our financial results and guidance in more detail.

Thank you Udit and good morning everyone. In the second quarter of 2026, we delivered total company as reported revenue of 1.645 billion. Organic revenue was 828 million, growing 7% as reported. and 9% in constant currency. Versus our guidance, constant currency sales were 100 basis points above the high end of the guidance range while foreign exchange translation was 150 basis points at worst. Biosciences and diagnostic solutions generated 817 million of revenue representing 4% reported growth versus the prior year comparable period led by 6% growth outside of China. By geography, as reported, revenue was 690 million in America, 505 million in Europe, and 450 million in Asia. Total company adjusted gross margin came in line with our expectations at 54%, reflecting an anticipated sequential step down as our ownership of the acquired businesses normalized to a full quarter versus a partial quarter in the last period. Total company adjusted operating margin was also consistent with our expectations at 25%. Our tax rate was 15.6% and net interest expense was 55 million with adjusted EPS of $3.05 landing at the high end of our guidance range. On a GAAP basis, we reported a diluted loss per share of $1.39, reflecting acquisition-related purchase accounting charges, including amortization of acquired intangibles and inventory step-up, as is typical following a transaction of this scale. Free cash flow for the quarter was $202 million after approximately $21 million in severance payments, $27 million of integration cost payments, and given timing of net cash settlement. At the end of June, the net cash settlement due to orders from BD was 157 million. Turning to our results by operating segments, the analytical sciences division delivered as reported revenue of 669 million, up 7% as reported and 9% in constant currency. In constant currency, instruments grew 8%, Chemistry grew 10% and service grew 9%. By end market, pharma grew 11% while non-pharma grew 4% as academic and government grew 11% and industrial grew 1%. Within pharma, strength was driven by robust replacement activity, our idiosyncratic growth drivers, and further traction in pharma DMPK clinical settings. We also saw further improvement in market conditions with stronger U.S. biotech and CRO spending adding a new layer of demand to the recovery. Growth was led by the U.S., China, and the rest of Asia, each up double digits or better. Within academic and government, strength was driven by mid-teens growth in Europe, double digit growth in Asia, and 6% growth in the Americas. Demand remains strong for our revitalized mass spectrometry portfolio in discovery applications, including for the Zevo MRT, which is seeing strong customer traction. We also saw an emerging growth contribution in ANG from semiconductor research. Within industrial, continued strength in food and environmental, led by double-digit growth in PFAS applications, was partially offset by softness in chemical analysis, where customer ordering pattern can be lumpy and more macro-sensitive. The biosciences division delivered as-reported revenue of $368 million, representing 3% reported growth versus the prior year comparable period, and a 400 basis points acceleration in year-over-year growth versus the full first quarter threats. Flow Clinical grew 8% on strong commercial execution, pricing and improving end-market conditions. Flow Research declined 2% with the trajectory improving through the quarter as the reagents returned to growth. In flow clinical, we grew mid-teens outside of China, while China declined 20% due to ongoing DRG constraints and lack of localized product portfolio, which we are in the process of addressing. In flow research, the return to positive growth for RUO reagents reflects an improvement in execution, pricing, and underlying customer activity levels as market conditions continue to strengthen. Our initial way of commercial actions tied to REO share recovery also began to contribute such as improvement in China research instrument growth trends tied to export license approval volumes. The Advanced Diagnostics Division comprised the formal PD diagnostic solutions business and the clinical business unit previously reported within Waters Division. Total as reported revenue for the division was 521 million representing 7% reported growth versus prior year comparable period. Within the division diagnostic solutions delivered 449 million of as reported revenue representing 5% growth in the quarter and also a 400 basis points acceleration in growth versus full first quarter trend. The clinical business unit delivered 72 million of revenue up 15% as reported and 14% in constant currency. In microbiology, reported revenue was 319 million, reflecting 4% growth, driven by improved commercial execution and incremental pricing actions. Growth outside of China was 6%, while China declined 13%, which was better than expected. In molecular diagnostics and point of care, reported revenue was 129 million, reflecting 9% growth in the quarter, driven by strong placements in HPV testing on our BD core platform. In the clinical business unit, growth was led by double digit strength in the Americas and Europe, with early commercial collaboration across advanced diagnostics also beginning to contribute. The material sciences division delivered as reported revenue of 87 million in the quarter representing an increase of 6% as reported and 8% in constant currency as spending trends improved across a range of applications including aerospace and defense and electronics testing for semiconductors and data center applications. Now I will share further commentary on our full year outlook and provide our third quarter guidance. Beginning with organic revenue, we have achieved excellent results so far in 2026 as our sustained growth trajectory is being augmented by additional customer segments now returning to growth. With this strong momentum, we are raising our full year 2026 organic constant currency revenue growth guidance to 7% to 9%. Foreign exchange translation is now expected to be a headwind of approximately 60 basis points resulting in 2026 Organic reported revenue of 3.37 billion to 3.431 billion. Turning to our acquired businesses, we now expect biosciences and diagnostic solutions to deliver approximately 3.045 billion of reported revenue in 2026, raising our prior guidance by 10 million, which reflects an underlying improvement of 25 million, offset by 15 million of FX. Together, total 2026 reported revenue is expected to be approximately 6.415 billion to 6.476 billion based on latest FX rates. Our fully adjusted EBIT margin is expected to be 28.2% in 2026 consistent with our prior expectations as foreign exchange translation is offset by the 20 million of overachievement from our 2026 cost actions. Net interest expense is now expected to be approximately 190 million and our full-year tax rate is now expected to be approximately 15.5%. Putting all this together, full-year 2026 adjusted earnings per fully diluted share is now expected to be $14.45 to $14.65. This represents year-over-year growth of 10% to 12%. and is 12% to 14% in constant currency. For the third quarter of 2026, we expect organic constant currency revenue growth to be in the range of 8% to 10%. Including the effect of currency translation, organic reported revenue is expected to be in the range of 850 million to 867 million. We expect revenue from biosciences and diagnostic solutions to be approximately 895 million in the third quarter of 2026, in line with the typical sequential seasonality for these businesses. Together, this results in total reported third quarter 2026 revenue of 1.745 billion to 1.762 billion. Third quarter adjusted earnings per fully diluted share is expected to be in the range of $3.95 to $4.05, which is 16% to 19% growth. Turning to our implied guidance assumptions during the second half of the year, At the midpoint, our organic revenue guidance prudently calls for a 3.6% quarter-over-quarter step-up between the second and the third quarter, below the seasonality patterns we've seen over the last two years. Additionally, it prudently implies a 12.8% step-up in the fourth quarter, which is also below recent seasonal patterns. In the overall P&L, our cost actions are expected to yield a 25 million adjusted operating income benefit in the third quarter and a 50 million benefit in the fourth quarter for a combined positive estimated P&L impact of approximately 75 million, underwriting the solid margin progression in the second half guidance. With that, I will now hand it back to Caspar.

Thanks Amol. That concludes our prepared remarks. We are now happy to open the lines and take your questions.

We will now begin Q&A. If you would like to ask a question, please use the raise your hand feature at the bottom of your screen. If you are dialed in by phone, press star 9 to raise your hand and star 6 to unmute. Please accept the prompt and unmute your audio when called upon. As a reminder, we are allowing one question and a follow-up. Our first question will come from Vijay Kumar with Evercore ISI.

Hi guys, congrats on a nice sprint here and thank you for taking my question. Udit, maybe my first one for you on BD Life Sciences. It likely grew north of a 5% constant currency. This is well above deal model, right? We're like five months into the deal, we're doing north of 5%. This is despite China headwinds persisting. Before any contribution from new products like your Bactic FXI and pricing actions, how should we think about BDLS in the medium term? Is this now like a north of 6% asset in your mind?

Vijay, thanks for the question and good morning to you. So it's just setting the context. I am ecstatic about the execution that we're seeing from our teams in life science, in BD life sciences and BD biosciences and diagnostics. It is A plus, right? And Waters is an execution machine, but I rate this as A plus. Really fantastic. Mid-single digit growth for the acquired businesses already. As we move into the second half of 2026 and into 2027, enabled by leadership changes, strength and execution, as you mentioned, across pricing, instrument replacement, digital commerce. We have a fantastic operating rhythm, right? And for bioscience, A7, Facts Discover A7 is launching on September 15th. and many more. and now available in the US with the 510K approval, roughly 4,500 instruments in the US alone waiting for replacement. And in China in Q4, the DRG headwinds will be in the baseline. So you put it all together, we expect to exit the year with 6% or better growth rate for the two businesses. And that sets us up really well entering in 2027. So could not be more pleased with the execution we're seeing.

That's helpful. And Amol, maybe one for you. You know, organic revenues were raised. Your cost action estimates were raised, but EPS increase of five cents, that just reflects the second quarter being carried forward, right? Are we being conservative here on the EPS fall through? And can you just clarify if any tariff refund assumptions were baked into this EPS?

There's a couple of things there, right? So look, I mean, between the organic sales raise, and the higher cost actions, we get about 30 cents of EPS, but then about 25 cents of EPS are eaten up by stronger US dollar. And that's why you sort of see 5 cent EPS raise for the full year. Two, if you look at how the implied guide is for Q4, for the organic business, it is at like 4% constant currency growth. No doubt we have about three less working days in Q4, but they will translate to about one, one and a half percent headwind to growth. And I think where the business trajectory is at this point, we're quite confident that the business is performing really well and will relatively stay there. So it's a prudent guide for Q4. And we see how it plays out in Q4 on that context. And then the last piece is on the tariff refunds, right? I mean, as you know, from last year, we were the first ones out of the gate to rapidly neutralize the impact of tariffs in our P&L. By early October, the P&L was neutralized. So when the tariff refunds would come, we would also have to go back on some of the surcharges we've charged customers, right? So net-net, it will be net-neutral.

Your next question will come from Evie Kozlowski with Goldman Sachs. You may now unmute and ask your question.

Hi, thank you so much for taking my questions. So you mentioned you're starting to see pricing flow through in the BD business. Maybe walk us through how much of the guidance raised in the acquired business is related to pricing and then how quickly we could ramp to the 150 basis points. And I guess anything you're hearing from customers as you work through these implementations.

Yeah, so in Q2 EV, we did 0.9% versus the traditional 0.5. 0.5 was embedded in our guide last time. So we are increasing it to 0.9 for the remainder of the year. The goal and aspiration is still to get as quickly as possible to 150 basis points.

Yeah, I mean, just to build on that EV for one second, you'll also remember we talked about the reagent rental compliance. We have about 700 accounts in the US that we've profiled, segmented. We've hired an expert from outside who's actually used to renegotiating these contracts and getting benefit for the company. So we expect that to help. Not just improve pricing, but also accelerate the uptake of our new products in those customer segments. So very excited about what we're seeing on that front.

Okay, great. And then I want to touch on some of your comments on reshoring. How much of this is incremental versus just kind of shifting geographies? And then should we expect this to be additive to your organic growth expectations or More of just kind of a shifting forward and then anything you could provide in terms of timing of when you expect this to flow through.

Look, I mean, first on incremental growth, look, we've been growing 8% on average for the last seven quarters in what's been an up and down market for many of our peers, right? So we don't need reshoring to add on, but it is incremental in the short to medium term. Over the long term, it's probably left pocket, right pocket as you look at the global pill count. But in the short term, by short term, I mean 2027 to 30. I mean, we have incredible visibility on customers who have broken ground. I mean, we talked about 37 or so of them. There is another similar number that are planning to break ground. There we feel we have a very strong position. Roughly 70% of those customers are Waters accounts. So as they shift from one geography to the other, we expect to maintain our share or gain share. So really excited about that. Overall, the reshoring benefit, I mean, if you take just two things away from our prepared remarks and what I'm saying now, one, it's a concrete opportunity from 2027 to 2030. and two, we're very well placed to capture the opportunity. I won't quantify at this stage what we're going to see and you'll see that coming through over the next few quarters. But very happy with the visibility and the position we have there.

Your next question will come from Tycho Peterson with Jefferies.

Hey, thanks. Udit, I want to touch on some of the flow cytometry initiatives. Good to see the return of growth in clinical. Just on the research side, how much of the pressure do you think is just lingering headwinds on U.S. academic and government and biotech versus other factors? You mentioned the China initiatives, but I'm just curious about some of the other initiatives to turn around the flow research business.

Yeah, it's a great question, Taiko. On the flow reagent side that grew this quarter, so low single digits, the headwinds are largely based on the instrument side. The bulk of it is from China. In fact, the U.S. saw growth on the instrument side in bioscience. And we are seeing benefits of an improving academic and biotech market in the U.S. for sure. And just to sort of complete the thought on China, in China, there are sort of two independent variables that you need to keep in mind. One, we have a broader flow cytometry portfolio available starting Q4. We've sort of localized our portfolio, the same playbook we ran for legacy analytical sciences. And two, from an execution standpoint, we've put the guy in charge who has driven really outsized growth in China for us for the last six, seven quarters and driven sort of double digit growth in China for us, for the analytical science business. This is Ching Li. So Feel very good about the setup for biosciences. And as I said in my prepared remarks and an earlier question, we expect to exit this year in bioscience north of 6%.

And this only thing I would add is S8 and A8 are doing fantastic. But then there is the gap that will rapidly be addressed with the launch of A7. and that will take care of the X China, any remaining headwind. Yeah, fantastic.

And on A7, what you need to keep in mind is this is down waters is fairway, right? It's an instrument designed for high volume use where you can transfer methods from one flow cytometer to another, one user to another. So feel very good about the product.

Okay, that's helpful. And then follow up on the guidance, maybe just a little bit more color. I mean, you're raising BD by more than the beat, obviously, you know, how much of that's bioscience versus, you know, microbiome versus molecular and then on margins, you know, you're maintaining the guide, despite taking up cost synergies, I guess, how should we think about the underlying, you know, margin trajectory, really thinking about 27 here is 100 basis points still on the table for next year. Thanks.

so a couple of things there right so on the BD raise we are raising the underlying by about 25 million and then that's partially offset by stronger US dollar by about 15 so the net raise is about 10 million it's relatively evenly spread between flow versus diagnostic solutions and even within diagnostic solutions sort of evenly spread between molecular and micro and little bit are all lopsided to clinical versus research on the biosciences side. Then when you look at the margin, I mean no doubt the 20 million of additional cost actions brought in 30 basis points of better margin. But because of the currency mix of our business, the stronger US dollar took away the 30 basis points on margin returning back to 28.2. We're still ahead of our underwriting on margin, right? Because we kind of said we go from 27% to 32% over the course of five years, 100 basis points each year. So we're running ahead of the 28% for this year. and Outlook is 100 basis points a year.

Your next question will come from Subbu Nambi with Guggenheim.

Hey team, thank you for taking my question. Our checks suggest that you've already implemented a change in how discounting is managed at BD in general. We've heard that even in flow cytometry and to some extent in microbiology, where are you in the process of how BD manages discounting? How is this driving you towards your eventual pricing goals, meaning is this still early earnings and then lastly as you make these changes is there a risk that as you potentially require more approvals to discount you become less nimble relative to competitors how do you manage that

Yeah, I think Subbu, great question. Look, we've implemented this playbook on the legacy water side where we set up a deal desk. In fact, from a bureaucracy standpoint, it reduces the bureaucracy. Everyone's clear on what the escalation is. Sometimes approvals even come to my desk. So the The deal desk model is efficient. It's been adopted by both divisions now. We have deal desks across every region, very clear escalation protocols that allows us to manage the discounting really, really well. If anything, it's faster. And in terms of pace, I mean, it's just the beginning, right? So we've already seen 90 basis points in Q2 where implementation of the deal desk and the execution discipline gave us a lift from the historical 50 basis points to 90. We're well on our way to get to the 150 basis points. And as I said, you should expect faster approvals as opposed to slower.

Fantastic. And recently you had a competitor come out and adjust their outlook for China microbiology. Can you give us your latest thoughts on how you see growth potential in that market and the specific ways you expect to maintain your outlook in the region despite reform?

Yeah, look, I mean... First, I mean, if you just take a step back on China as a whole on the diagnostic side, it's mostly microbiology for us. It came in actually better this quarter than we had predicted. It basically declined low teens as opposed to 30% that we had put into our models. So it did better. And then from a future perspective, we've implemented several changes in the country itself. We are localizing our FX portfolio that should be available in Q4 in the country. We've made leadership changes and we've made execution changes on the ground level. So we feel pretty good about where we sit on the microbiology business and what is ahead of Waters, and not just the industry. Ahead for Waters, not just the industry. So with the availability of FX and FXI that is locally made, with the leadership changes, feel pretty good about what we want, what we expect with China going forward.

Your next question will come from Puneet Souda with LearInk.

Great. Thanks for the questions here and congrats on a great print here. Good to see the BD acceleration here with it. The first one is actually on Waters core instrumentation and GLP-1s. Pharma is clearly strong for you here, but just wanted to see how much contribution you saw from GLP-1s in the quarter and how should we think about that? Trajectory going forward, both in the Deloitte markets and in India as well. I just recalled this being a major contributor that you had talked about at the prior investor day. So I wanted to get some color there.

Let me start and then let Amol add in. GLP-1 testing for part of the business grew over 40% this quarter. Broad-based growth across virtually every geography. America is over 30%, Europe over 36%, India almost doubling the business itself. So very broad-based. And also in China, where one of the leading contract manufacturers is supporting Eli Lilly in their contract manufacturing where we have a meaningful share. So very broad-based growth on GLP-1 testing. And as you look ahead, I mean, there are no signs of slowing down. The pipeline is very good. The funnel looks strong both on instruments as well as on the chemistry side. So really no slowdown on that front. In fact, Moving ahead of what we had promised on the GLP-1 testing contribution.

Yeah, I mean, looking broadly, we had said the idiosyncratic growth drivers will all add up to about 200 basis points, and the GLP-1 contribution there was about 30 basis points. Clearly, GLP-1s are running well ahead of that.

Got it, got it. Great, thank you. And then on the BD side, I mean, with the 180-day-plus plan, it seems that that's run its course. I mean, you're seeing strong results across the BD enterprise. Which of the initiatives are more permanent run rate versus one-timers in the enterprise? And wondering, how should we start to think about sort of the annualized revenue contribution here in 2017 How should we think about 27 with the BD raise here and 26?

There'll be ample time to talk about 2027, Puneet, but I mean, all I can say is add it all up and we exit 26 north of 6%. And that's sort of Thank you so much for joining us. The second one is pricing and reagent compliance. As I mentioned earlier, already 90 basis points. We're well on our way to get to 150 basis points. And the reagent rental compliance, we know and many more. Remember, our revenue synergies were not just cross-selling of what we talked about earlier, which is 50 million for this year. Total revenue synergies including cross-selling in drug metabolism, but also cross-selling of LC-MS and diagnostics. Instrument replacement, digital commerce, service and pricing, all of those will augment to the growth already that you're seeing from the 180-day plan. So very excited about what we're seeing. I mean, the teams are collaborating really, really well. Couldn't have asked for better execution. As I mentioned earlier, I mean, Waters is a strong execution company, but this is A-plus execution.

Your next question will come from Jack Meehan with Oprah on Research.

Thank you. Good morning, guys. Morning, Jack. Hello. First question, I wanted to follow up on Tycho's second question more around the cost actions, though. So you've built in $75 million for 2026 with a $200 million run rate. Is that $50 million in 4Q a good starting point for thinking about what 2027 could look like? Or is there a different way we should think about kind of the building blocks in the next year on the cost energy side?

Yeah, I mean, great question, Jack. So the $50 million in Q4 is largely in hand because we've already taken these cost actions. People have been communicated, they have their dates, etc., And so that already puts us at a 200 million run rate. And that covers a big portion of the scope we outlined. But I mean, as you can imagine, you know, as we look at the business and optimize the business further, there are areas which we continue to look at, such as network consolidation at a point that takes typically time. Looking at things such as how we manage inventory and that produces outcomes. So those things will come as we go through the years to come.

Let me add on a bit, Jack. I mean, you'll remember our benchmark that we had shared from some previous deals. was about 7.5% of total cost base. I mean, 200 million is 4%. We have a fair number of initiatives that we want to continue to implement beyond the 200 million that we've already delivered. It's too early to add that on to 2027 and beyond. I mean, we'll have ample time to talk about it. but I think your question is the right one. I mean what else do we expect? There's more. I mean there's no question about that.

Great. And then Amol, one just phasing question for you. So when I look at the acquired revenue, you did $817 million this quarter, you're going to $895 next quarter. How much of that is like the historical seasonality of these BD businesses? Obviously, like they had a different fiscal year end than Waters. So I'm wondering whether the seasonality should look similar in Waters' hands, like just in terms of how the sales force is being incentivized. Thanks.

Yeah, I mean, pretty much so, right? I mean, just keep in mind, our transformation is running ahead of plan. And that would normalize some of that seasonality. But other than that, I mean, there's about consistent with how the businesses have been performing in last two or three years.

Your next question will come from Dan Leonard with RBC Capital Markets.

Thanks a bunch. At risk of being a bit redundant here, just want to talk a bit more about the sustainability of the improved trajectory in BD and reconcile some of the math. So, Udit, I hear you that the exit rates is greater than 6% growth, but You have a negative 10% comp in Q4. And that 895 Q3 guy, that does assume a deceleration in growth compared to your Q2 trend. So sort of similar to Jack. I'm not sure if there's a fiscal versus calendar dynamic, but just hoping you could reconcile some of that math.

Yeah, there is some amount of that, right? In the sense, if you specifically look at Q3 being a year end for BD, there was about $20 million of trade inventory build in Q3 that unwound in Q4. And that creates a 3% or so growth headwind in Q3 and a 3% tailwind in Q4. Yeah, we don't plan to do that this year. Yeah.

And on the 6% growth, Q3 had a higher base, Q4 had a lower base, but the better way to think about it is the second half of the year. First half, basically the first quarter of full ownership, we finished at 4%. And when you look at the second half, we're accelerating versus the first half of the calendar year. So the business is accelerating as you go from the first half to the second half. The quarterization, guys, is Very difficult to predict in a newly acquired business. And this is something that I've seen in the past with the Sigma Aldrich acquisition as well. So feel very good about the momentum that we're seeing in the business. And the 6% gives you a very good starting point as we enter 2020.

And also China is 6% already for both the businesses. And China starts to come into baseline for both businesses.

Understood. And then as a follow-up, I was hoping you could share more of your early insight into the diagnostics replacement opportunity with the FXI. Udit, you compared it to the Alliance IS, but just given that the markets are different between diagnostics and pharma, I was hoping to get some of your early learnings. Thank you.

There's some similarity and some differences. Look, I mean, it's a replacement business regardless. That's the similarity. It's 12,000 instruments that are ripe for replacement, 4,500 in the US alone. Excellent uptake of FXI. It's a differentiated product with a clear value proposition and customers are seeing the benefit wherever we've launched it already. So remember, whenever we talk about replacement cycles, it's not just the math. and many more. and many more. It allows you to take advantage not just of the replacement opportunity, but also of delinquent accounts where you can go into the customer and say, hey, you owe me X, Y, Z from the past. Let's accelerate your replacement with the FXI back tech. So the reagent rental model has several advantages, one of which is the lack of compliance that we see from the past, and that presents an opportunity. And the second, it shows up as recurring revenue where you can add on This concludes the Q&A portion of the call. I will now hand it back to Caspar.

Thank you Leila. This concludes our call. We look forward to connecting with many of you at upcoming events and conferences.