By Shawn Langlois

Waters Corp. (WAT) on Tuesday handed in a lower second-quarter profit that missed Wall Street targets and led to a 3% retreat in the company's share price.

Waters Corp.'s stock closed down $1.56 at $50.88. It has lost almost 24% in the past year.

The Milford, Mass., lab equipment maker reported a profit of $69.9 million, or 72 cents a share, down from $83.1 million, or 82 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Adjusted income rose to 78 cents a share from 76 cents a share.

Sales fell to $362.8 million from $398.8 million.

Analysts polled by FactSet Research had expected a profit, on average, of 79 cents a share with revenue of $364.9 million.

"Our financial results in the quarter were in line with our expectations, and sales to our major end markets in the quarter indicated a continuation of the general demand trends that we reported in April," said Chairman and CEO Douglas Berthiaume.

-Shawn Langlois; 415-439-6400; AskNewswires@dowjones.com