Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) closed the most recent trading day at $544.81, moving +0.78% from the previous trading session. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 3.06%. At the same time, the Dow added 2.68%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.04%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the maker of scientific instrument and laboratory supplies had gained 0.09% over the past month. This has outpaced the Medical sector's loss of 2.37% and the S&P 500's loss of 4.31% in that time.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Thermo Fisher Scientific as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Thermo Fisher Scientific is projected to report earnings of $4.93 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 11.96%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $9.86 billion, up 6.37% from the prior-year quarter.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $22.70 per share and revenue of $42.49 billion, which would represent changes of -9.67% and +8.35%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Thermo Fisher Scientific. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Thermo Fisher Scientific is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

In terms of valuation, Thermo Fisher Scientific is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 23.81. This valuation marks a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 26.53.

It is also worth noting that TMO currently has a PEG ratio of 1.83. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Medical - Instruments industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.89 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Instruments industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 167, which puts it in the bottom 34% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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