For investors in Central Massachusetts public companies, there was no better stock to own in 2019 than in Milford’s Waters Corp.
The lab equipment manufacturer posted a 27% jump in stock price for the year, jumping by 50 points, the most of any public company in Central Massachusetts. Waters’ stock was trading at around $233 at the end of trading Tuesday afternoon.
Waters reported nearly $1.7 billion in sales through the first three quarters of the year, with $392 million in profits.
Other major public companies in the region also had a successful year on the stock market, which itself had a booming year. The New York Stock Exchange rose 22.2% for the year, rising nearly 5,200 points to hit 28,538 through Tuesday. Central Massachusetts public companies rose by an average of 20.3%.

Gaining the most points after Waters was IPG Photonics of Oxford, whose stock rose 30.2Â points, or 26.3%, despite some turbulence over the year.
In October, IPG said it would lay off 300 people from its global workforce as part of $30 million in cuts. The manufacturer has cited harm from the U.S. trade war with China, with its stock ranging from a high of $181 a share in April to $116 a share in August. It rebounded to end around $145 at the close of the year.
[Related: Stock buybacks jump 93% at largest Central Mass. public companies following tax change]
Worcester’s Hanover Insurance Group gained 21.3Â points over the year, a jump of 18.5%. Among other major gainers was Framingham retailer TJX Cos., whose stock rose 16.5Â points, or 37.1%.
Smaller firms were more likely to struggle.
ReWalk Robotics, a Marlborough-based maker of exoskeleton suit systems, saw its stock fall 55.2% to $2.16Â a share. Psychemedics Corp., an Acton drug test manufacturer, had a 43.3% drop in its stock price to end at $9.15 a share.