Waters price target raised by $35 at Citi, here’s why

Citi analyst Patrick Donnelly raised the firm’s price target on Waters to $300 from $265 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. Heading into 2024, the analyst sees investor appetite across the life science tools space as “remaining light” following a challenging year with consistent downwards earnings revisions. The industry has seen a reset that will continue into next year driven by headwinds across biopharma with notable weakness in bioprocessing, instrumentation, and lingering challenges in China, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Going into next year, Citi sees modest downside to 2024 estimates in tools broadly, and names Bruker (BRKR) its top pick in tools, Qiagen (QGEN) its top pick in diagnostics, and Fortrea Holding (FTRE) its top pick in labs.