Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (TMO) — Fundamental Analysis & Key Financial Ratios

Kaplio's reading: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Updated on September 23, 2026 · accounts published on July 23, 2026

Reading of September 23, 2026: A solid business

Thermo Fisher Scientific trades at a P/E of 35.4 over the last 12 months, 52 % above its ten-year average of 23.2 and within 1 % of its 52-week high.

• Is Thermo Fisher Scientific expensive or cheap? It trades at a P/E of 35.4 over the last 12 months, 27 % above its sector median and higher than at any point in the past decade.
• How is the business doing? Revenue grew 3.9 % and EPS 7.3 % over the last 12 months, with an operating margin of 17.7 %, slightly below its 18.0 % decade average.
• How strong is the balance sheet? Net debt of $81.65 per share is 12.6 % of the price, and the dividend yields 0.3 % after eight straight years of increases.
• Does it invest enough in R&D and convert profit into cash? R&D is 3.1 % of revenue in fiscal 2025, far from the 15 % healthy mark, but 93.4 % of net income turned into free cash.
• What to expect from the next earnings? Results are due October 28, 2026, with consensus at $6.40 per share and 36 of 43 analysts rating the stock a buy.

Is Thermo Fisher Scientific expensive or cheap?

A P/E of 35.4 over the last 12 months sits 52 % above the 23.2× average of the past ten years, and above the 32.6× decade peak: no quarter in ten years saw the shares this expensive. Against the 227 companies in its sector, whose median P/E is 27.8×, the premium is 27 %. EV/EBITDA of 25.8× and a free cash flow yield of 2.3 % tell the same story, and the price sits less than 1 % below its 52-week high of $658.76 after a 39 % gain in twelve months. Nothing here is cheap.

How is the business doing?

Growth is modest: revenue up 3.9 % and EPS up 7.3 % over the last 12 months, while EPS has compounded at just 2.2 % a year between fiscal 2020 and 2025. Profitability is flat: a 17.7 % operating margin over the last 12 months against an 18.0 % average for 2014-2025 and 18.2 % in fiscal 2025. Net margin is 15.1 % and ROE 13.4 %. ROIC of 7.4 % beats the 5.5 % median of its 368-company sector by 1.9 points, yet has cleared 10 % in only two of the last ten fiscal years.

How strong is the balance sheet?

Debt is manageable without being light. Net debt came to $81.65 per share in fiscal 2025 ($108.52 of debt against $26.88 of cash), equal to 12.6 % of today's price, and net debt to EBITDA of 2.6× sits just above the 2.5× line the sector treats as comfortable. Debt to equity is 0.81, the current ratio 1.55 and the Altman Z score 3.8, inside the safe zone. Piotroski scores 5 out of 9, a middling reading. The dividend yields 0.3 % with a 9 % payout in fiscal 2025 and eight consecutive years of increases: room to keep raising it, little income today.

Does it invest enough in R&D and convert profit into cash?

In health care the pipeline is the invisible asset, and expiring patents turn revenue into thin air, so the questions are innovation and cash conversion. On innovation the numbers are thin: R&D absorbed 3.1 % of revenue in fiscal 2025 against a 15 % healthy mark, gross margin was 37.7 % versus the 70 % branded-pharma bar, and EPS grew 2.2 % a year over fiscal 2020-2025 against an 8 % benchmark. Cash conversion is the bright spot, with free cash flow at 93.4 % of net income in fiscal 2025, just past the 90 % threshold. Returns lag too: ROIC of 7.4 % against a 12 % standard.

What to expect from the next earnings?

The next report lands on October 28, 2026, and the bar is a consensus EPS of $6.40 for the quarter. History favors the company: it has beaten estimates in each of the last eight quarters, most recently on July 23, 2026, with $6.03 against $5.72 expected, a 5.4 % beat. Estimates are not moving, though: the 2026 EPS consensus has held at $25.11 across the last eight days from 16 analysts, and revenue expectations are equally static. Coverage is friendly, with 36 buys, 7 holds and no sells out of 43 analysts, which leaves little upgrade fuel at this price.

How this was prepared: the data comes from companies' official filings, collected by a professional provider, and from Kaplio's analysis engine (trailing-12-month ratios, 10 years of history and sector medians computed across US-listed companies). The text is written from that data alone, every figure is checked against it before publication, and it is reviewed when the company reports results. This is not investment advice.