BBY vs WAT Comparison

With over $41 billion in consolidated 2024 sales, Best Buy is the largest pure-play consumer electronics retailer in the US, boasting roughly 8% share of the North American market and around 33% share of offline sales in the region, per our calculations, CTA, and Euromonitor data. The firm generates the bulk of its sales in-store, with mobile phones and tablets, computers, and appliances representing its three largest categories. Recent investments in e-commerce fulfillment, accelerated by the covid pandemic, have seen the US e-commerce channel roughly double from prepandemic levels, with management estimating that it will represent a mid-30% proportion of sales moving forward.

Water sells liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, and thermal analysis tools. These analytical instruments provide essential information on various products, such as their molecular structures and physical properties, to help clients enhance the health and well-being of end users. As a percentage of sales in 2024, Waters generated 58% from biopharmaceutical customers, 31% from industrial clients, and 11% from academic/government institutions. In early 2026, Waters plans to merge with BD's life science and diagnostics business, which will substantially change those concentrations. Waters will wind up with more concentration in diagnostics (versus none now) and discovery-related life science tools.