Danahervs.Waters Corporation
DHR vs WAT · both in Life science tools, part of the Medicine, pharma & life science value chain: Instruments, reagents and equipment for research, development and production.
Danaher is about 3.5× larger than Waters Corporation by market cap; Danaher trades at the lower P/E (35.9 vs 245.9); year to date, Waters Corporation leads (+8.1% vs −6.0%).
Side by side
| DHR | WAT | |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $144B | $40.9B |
| Price | $215.97 | $414.44 |
| Today | +0.4% | +0.9% |
| Return YTD | −6.0% | +8.1% |
| Return 1Y | +1.6% | +35.9% |
| P/E | 35.9 | 245.9 |
| P/S | 5.7 | 8.8 |
| P/B | 2.7 | 2.7 |
Data as of 2026-08-26 · updates daily after U.S. close
The two companies
DanaherDHR
Cytiva supplies the equipment biologics are made with; Cepheid runs molecular diagnostics. Danaher owns both, along with a wider set of life science instruments.
Full DHR profile →Waters CorporationWAT
Waters sells liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry systems; pharmaceutical companies and other laboratories buy them along with the consumables and software that keep them running.
Full WAT profile →More DHR & WAT comparisons
Other head-to-heads in the Life science tools segment.