Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) was one of the stocks on Jim Cramer’s radar as he highlighted AI winners to buy for 2026. Cramer explained why the stock rallied, as he said:
Can you believe these incredible numbers from Waters Corporation? This is the arms dealer to the life science industry. Recently acquired Becton, Dickinson’s Biosciences and Diagnostic business, a deal that Wall Street initially greeted with immense skepticism, candidly except for me. But now, we got the first quarter from the combined company, and the numbers were just excellent. That’s why the stock shot up 13.5% today, making it the best performer in the S&P 500.
Stock market data. Photo by Burak The Weekender on Pexels
Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) provides systems for liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, thermal analysis, rheometry, and calorimetry. The company’s technologies are used for research, product development, quality checks, and specialized testing. Cramer discussed the Becton, Dickinson deal during the December 1, 2025, episode, as he stated:
Finally, please don’t forget about one that was always my personal favorite, never owned it for the trust, Waters Corporation, one of the quieter companies in this space that specializes in liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. Now, that’s stuff that you need to be able to do all this life science things. For much of the past few years, Waters was holding up much better than the rest of the industry. But the stock got hit real hard earlier this year, in part because the company announced a complex deal to merge with Becton, Dickinson’s biosciences and diagnostics business back in July.
The market didn’t like the deal initially, and Waters saw its stock plunge. It was so hard to understand. Things then turned around, though. Now, the stock’s up about 45% from its August lows. Now, some of that’s because Waters arguably reported the best quarter in the group about a month ago, revenue up 8% on a constant currency basis, along with a healthy earnings beat. Management also gave a nice boost to their full-year forecast. Now, Waters is still tricky because of that Becton, Dickinson biosciences deal. It’s expected to close in the first quarter of next year, but once that happens, I think it’s going to be a much, much bigger player and really I think it should be loved on Wall Street.
While we acknowledge the potential of WAT as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you’re looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock.
