Thermo Fisher Scientific reported “a strong start to the year,” buoyed by strong demand from its pharma and biotech customers, investment in new technologies and the closing of its $9 billion acquisition of clinical trial data company Clario.
Revenues for the first quarter rose 6% to 11.01 billion, up from $10.36 billion during the same period a year ago. First quarter adjusted earnings per share also beat the company’s expectations, increasing by 6% to $5.44.
In an April 23 earnings call with investors, CEO Marc Casper said the company’s end markets and business “are progressing in line with our expectations, and we are on track to deliver a strong year.”
“We have advanced our long-term competitive position in the quarter with high-impact innovation and important strategic collaborations,” he said.
The strong financials were driven largely by growth in the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company’s laboratory products and biopharma services segment, which saw revenues rise 7% over the same quarter last year, to $6.04 billion, up from $5.64 billion, according to the earnings report.
The company also touted product launches in laboratory instruments and biotech manufacturing tools during the quarter.
Another factor driving revenue growth was the completion of the company’s M&A deal with Clario in late March, which added $30 million in revenue and $0.01 of adjusted earnings per share to the first-quarter results, Chief Financial Officer Stephen Williamson told investors.
The growth was tempered by revenue declines in the analytical instruments and specialty diagnostics segments.
Casper pointed to artificial intelligence as a long-term growth opportunity for the company. The company in January announced a deal with tech supergiant Nvidia to build out ThermoFisher’s autonomous laboratory infrastructure, with the ultimate goal to speed up and produce more accurate discovery projects. This follows an earlier partnership between the company and Open AI.
“We believe that AI is going to improve the returns on investment for the drug development industry,” Casper told investors. “That means there will be more products coming through the pipeline and, ultimately, an enhancement of funding interest in the biotech community. We think it is a meaningful positive.”
Reflecting the strong quarter, ThermoFisher increased its 2026 revenue guidance to between $47.3 billion and $48.1 billion, up from $46.3 billion to $47.2 billion. It raised its adjusted earnings per share guidance to $24.64 to $25.12, up from the previous forecast of $24.22 to $24.80.
While the conflict in the Middle East is expected to create “some modest level of inflationary pressure,” Casper said the company’s customers “remain focused on advancing their priorities and we expect our markets to prove resilient.”
