Illuminavs.Waters Corporation
ILMN 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.
Waters Corporation is about 1.4× larger than Illumina by market cap; Illumina trades at the lower P/E (34.7 vs 245.9); year to date, Illumina leads (+70.2% vs +8.1%).
Side by side
| ILMN | WAT | |
|---|---|---|
| Market cap | $28.7B | $40.9B |
| Price | $224.99 | $414.44 |
| Today | +0.8% | +0.9% |
| Return YTD | +70.2% | +8.1% |
| Return 1Y | +119.3% | +35.9% |
| P/E | 34.7 | 245.9 |
| P/S | 6.4 | 8.8 |
| P/B | 10.1 | 2.7 |
Data as of 2026-08-26 · updates daily after U.S. close
The two companies
IlluminaILMN
DNA sequencing machines and the reagents they consume, for research and clinical genomics.
Full ILMN 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 ILMN & WAT comparisons
Other head-to-heads in the Life science tools segment.
See where ILMN and WAT sit in the full Medicine, pharma & life science map: every segment from suppliers to end markets.Open the Life science value chain →