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Waters earnings quality score
How much of the reported profit is backed by cash, and how many markers of managed earnings the filings show
Score56 / 100 · grade C · rank 778 of 1027
Waters (WAT) scores 56 of 100 for earnings quality, grade C: rank 778 of 1027 companies and 196 of 287 in industrials. It loses the most points on accruals of -0.2% of assets, higher than 85% of companies, Montier C-score 5 of 5 checks failed, Dechow F-score 1.48 (above normal). It earns full or near-full marks for discretionary accruals of +0.3% of assets (modified Jones), smaller than most, Beneish M-score -2.42: clean (below −2.22), profit about as variable as cash flow (smoothness 0.77). Revenue grew 52% in the year: fast growth raises accruals, the Beneish and Dechow scores and the C-score by construction, so a growing company scores lower than a steady one with the same accounting.
What earned and lost points
| Component | What the filings show | Points | Of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accruals | accruals of -0.2% of assets, higher than 85% of companies | 3 | 22 |
| Beneish M-score | Beneish M-score -2.42: clean (below −2.22) | 17 | 17 |
| Dechow F-score | Dechow F-score 1.48 (above normal) | 11 | 17 |
| Montier C-score | Montier C-score 5 of 5 checks failed | 0 | 17 |
| Discretionary accruals | discretionary accruals of +0.3% of assets (modified Jones), smaller than most | 11 | 11 |
| Piotroski F-score | Piotroski F-score 7 of 9 | 9 | 11 |
| Earnings smoothness | profit about as variable as cash flow (smoothness 0.77) | 6 | 6 |
How the score is built
Eight published measures, each scored against the whole universe or on its own scale and weighted: accruals 20, discretionary accruals 10, Beneish M 15, Dechow F 15, Montier C 15, Piotroski F 10, the non-GAAP gap 10, smoothness 5. A measure that cannot be computed (Beneish for a bank, say) drops out and the rest is rescaled, so every company is scored on what applies to it.
Every company ranked → The full quality workbench, live → Waters: cash flow →
Computed from the companies’ own XBRL filings (latest fiscal year) by published formulas; a statistical screen, not an audit or an accusation. A low score means the reported profit shows more of the markers of managed or low-quality earnings than its peers. Not investment advice.