Jim Stack is well known for his "safety-first" approach to money management, focusing on a balance between risk and reward. In his InvesTech market Analyst, he notes, "We now see a window of opportunity in Waters (NYSE: WAT).

Here, Bruce Morison, consultant for Stack Financial Management, explains, "In a market overreaction to a weaker-than-expected fourth quarter, an opportunity has been created to invest in this high-quality company at an attractive valuation level.

"The stock dropped 20% when the company reported earnings that were $0.08 shy of the $1.06 estimate that Wall Street was forecasting. The shortfall was primarily a result of a higher-than-expected tax rate for 2007 and weaker sales in Japan.

"The Japan results reflected a change in government regulations for water testing. Our concern over this event is limited given that Japan accounts for less than 10% of the Waters' sales and is not a key growth market for the firm.

"A quick recap of the company ... Waters Corporation is a medium sized company based in Milford, Massachusetts which designs, manufactures, and services high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry (MS) instrument systems.