Waters Corporation Reports 10% Increase in Third Quarter Sales and Strong E.P.S. Growth.

MILFORD, Mass. -- Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) reported third quarter 2006 sales of $301 million, an increase of 10% over sales of $273 million in the third quarter of 2005. In the quarter, foreign currency translation did not materially affect the Company's sales growth rate. On a GAAP basis, earnings per diluted share (E.P.S.) for the third quarter were $0.49, compared to $0.22 for the third quarter in 2005. On a non-GAAP basis, including the adjustments noted in the attached reconciliation, E.P.S. grew 26% to $0.54 in the third quarter of 2006 from $0.43 in the third quarter of 2005.

Through the first nine months of 2006, sales for the Company were $893 million, an 8% increase over sales in the first nine months of 2005 of $826 million. Foreign currency translation reduced this reported sales growth rate by approximately 1%. E.P.S. through the first nine months of 2006 were $1.36 compared to $1.07 for the comparable period in 2005. On a non-GAAP basis, including the adjustments noted in the attached reconciliation, E.P.S. grew 23% in the first nine months of 2006 to $1.57 in 2006 from $1.28 in 2005.

Commenting on the quarter, Douglas Berthiaume, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer said, "During the quarter, our business benefited from continued strong Asian sales growth, from improved pharmaceutical spending in the U.S., and from the overall positive acceptance and uptake of our ACQUITY UPLC[TM]-based system solutions. These factors, in combination with our efforts to continuously improve our operational efficiency, resulted in strong earnings per share growth."

As communicated in a prior press release, Waters Corporation will webcast its third quarter 2006 financial results conference call this morning, October 24, 2006 at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. To listen to the call, connect to www.waters.info , choose Investor Relations and click on the Live Webcast. A replay of the call will be available through October 31, 2006 at midnight eastern time, similarly by webcast and also by phone at 402-220-9709.

Waters Corporation is among leading companies offering instrumentation, software, service and consumable products for liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry and thermal analysis. These markets account for approximately $5.0 billion of the overall $20+ billion analytical instrument market.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT

This release contains "forward-looking" statements regarding future results and events, including statements regarding expected financial results, future growth and customer demand that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. For this purpose, any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words, "believes", "anticipates", "plans", "expects", "intends", "appears", "estimates", "projects", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The Company's actual future results may differ significantly from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements within this release for a variety of reasons, including and without limitation, fluctuations in capital expenditures by the Company's customers, in particular large pharmaceutical companies, regulatory and/or administrative obstacles to the timely completion of purchase order documentation, introduction of competing products by other companies, such as improved research-grade mass spectrometers, and/or higher speed and/or more sensitive liquid chromatographs, pressures on prices from competitors and/or customers, regulatory obstacles to new product introductions, lack of acceptance of new products, other changes in the demands of the Company's healthcare and pharmaceutical company customers, changes in distribution of the Company's products, changes in the healthcare market and the pharmaceutical industry, loss of market share through competition, potential product liability or other claims against the Company as a result of the use of its products, risks associated with lawsuits and other legal actions particularly involving claims for the infringement of patents and other intellectual property rights, the short-term impact to 2006 operating results from cost savings initiatives the Company implemented in February 2006 and foreign exchange rate fluctuations affecting translation of the Company's future non-U.S. operating results. Such factors and others are discussed more fully in the section entitled "Risk Factors" of the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 and quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended July 1, 2006, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which "Risk Factors" discussion is incorporated by reference in this release. The forward-looking statements included in this release represent the Company's estimates or views as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing the Company's estimates or views as of any date subsequent to the date of this release.

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