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 3.6× larger than Waters Corporation by market cap; Danaher trades at the lower P/E (38.5 vs 255.2); year to date, Waters Corporation leads (+13.0% vs −5.0%).
Side by side
| DHR | WAT | |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $154B | $42.4B |
| Price | $219.81 | $433.77 |
| Today | +1.1% | +1.1% |
| Return YTD | −5.0% | +13.0% |
| Return 1Y | +6.1% | +31.0% |
| Since June 26, 2026 | +12.0% | +15.9% |
| P/E | 38.5 | 255.2 |
| P/S | 6.1 | 9.1 |
| P/B | 2.9 | 2.8 |
Data as of 2026-10-09 · updates daily after U.S. close
Since June 26, 2026: the change in the closing price, from the daily closes Sectivia records itself since that date.
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.