Abbott Laboratories holds the cleaner structural position, with valuation as the main driver and growth adding further support. Waters still has the edge on growth, which keeps the comparison from looking entirely one-sided. The market setup is currently leaning toward Waters, which does not confirm the structural lead. That leaves a split case: the structural lead stays with Abbott Laboratories, but the market is not currently confirming it.
The comparison is based on similar long-term financial trajectories, not sector labels. Both peer scores are relative to the S&P 500 universe, making them directly comparable.
The lead is spread across valuation and stability, rather than sitting in one isolated gap. Abbott Laboratories leads by 11 points on the overall comparison score.
These two companies are linked by measured long-term financial trajectory similarity within the selected peer universe.
This level of similarity signals a strong structural match, even though some dimensions still separate the two companies.
The match is driven mainly by margin consistency and revenue growth trajectory.
Scores reflect position relative to comparable companies with similar long-term financial trajectories.
The largest gaps do not all point in the same direction.
Left means cheaper relative valuation. Higher means stronger structure.
Abbott Laboratories and Waters Corporation look relatively close on structure, but the price setup still leans toward Abbott Laboratories.
Valuation position uses peer-relative PE percentile (idx_pct_pe) where available.
Where ABT and WAT each sit in their own 5-year price and valuation history.
Describes historical entry positioning only. Descriptive — not investment advice.
The multiple-based pricing edge comes from a forward P/E that is 7.3 turns lower.
Waters still pushes back on growth by a very wide margin, which keeps the read from becoming one-way.
Valuation is the clearest driver of the lead, with growth adding further support — though growth still provides a real counterweight.
Break down the ABT vs WAT comparison across all dimensions with the full interactive tool.
Explore how ABT and WAT each compare against other companies in their peer groups.
Rule-based, descriptive analysis only. Derived from peer percentile dimensions. Not investment advice. Peer groups are determined algorithmically based on structural similarity — not by sector classification alone.
AssetNext scores reflect each company's structural position within its functional peer group — not a ranking against all stocks simultaneously. Peers are identified by similarity across eight financial dimensions, including revenue growth trajectory, margin structure, capital intensity, and earnings stability. A score of 75 means the company ranks in the top quartile within its own peer group, not the entire market.
Four dimension scores drive the overall peer score: Growth (revenue trajectory and expansion dynamics), Quality (margin structure and capital efficiency), Valuation (peer-relative pricing on standard multiples), and Stability (earnings consistency and financial predictability). Each dimension is scored 0–100 relative to the peer group, then combined into an overall peer score using equal weighting.
Because scores are peer-relative, the same company can have slightly different scores in different index universes. On comparison pages, both companies are shown within their shared peer universe wherever possible — so the scores are directly comparable. The peer basis is stated on each score card.
Scores are recalculated periodically as underlying financial data is updated. All analysis is descriptive and rule-based — AssetNext describes structural realities and never issues buy, sell or hold recommendations.