TMO vs A Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
TMO (Thermo Fisher Scientific) is the global life science tools leader with unmatched breadth across instruments, reagents, and pharma services, while A (Agilent Technologies) is a focused analytical instruments specialist with leadership in chromatography, mass spectrometry, and genomics. Thermo Fisher is larger and more diversified; Agilent is more focused on analytical chemistry and materials characterization.
TMO vs A is life science tools scale leader (Thermo Fisher's end-to-end laboratory and pharma services platform) versus focused analytical instruments specialist (Agilent's LC/MS, genomics, and pathology for pharma, food, and environmental) — both essential life science tool suppliers with pharma spending exposure.
A holds the edge across 4 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. TMO has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+20.31% vs +17.51%), though A has the better forward P/E setup (21.74x vs 22.62x for TMO). On fundamentals, TMO is growing revenue faster (10.50%), while A maintains the higher operating margin (25.56%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for A (+19.07%) than for TMO (+1.49%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want the world's largest life science tools company with unparalleled product breadth, pharma services revenue through CDMO/CRO capabilities, and a long track record of value-creating acquisitions
- Value Thermo Fisher's bioprocessing recovery as a catalyst for growth re-acceleration following the COVID normalization and biopharma inventory destocking cycle
- Prefer maximum life science diversification across instruments, reagents, consumables, diagnostics, and pharma services from a single high-quality compounder
- Want focused analytical instruments exposure through Agilent's leadership in liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, and genomics serving pharmaceutical, food, and environmental markets
- Value Agilent's end market diversification (food safety, environmental testing, forensics) as a buffer against purely pharma-driven spending cycles
- See Agilent's DAKO oncology pathology business as growing companion diagnostic and cancer biomarker testing revenues tied to personalized medicine adoption
| Metric | TMO | A |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 50.6 | 53.5 |
| AI ranki | #478 | #515 |
| Latest closei | $682.65 | $171.99 |
| 1M returni | +4.25% | +2.51% |
| 3M returni | +18.92% | +23.03% |
| 6M returni | +47.57% | +53.32% |
| 1Y returni | +20.31% | +17.51% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | TMO | A |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $12.08K (+20.8%) started 2025-11-03 | $11.89K (+18.9%) started 2025-11-03 |
| 5Y ago | $10.82K (+8.2%) started 2021-11-03 | $11.41K (+14.1%) started 2021-11-03 |
| 10Y ago | $48.93K (+389.3%) started 2016-11-03 | $45.03K (+350.3%) started 2016-11-03 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | TMO | A |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $230.05B | $41.43B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 33.45 | 28.98 |
| Forward P/Ei | 22.62 | 21.74 |
| Price/Salesi | 3.54 | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 5.80 | 5.94 |
| Analyst targeti | $631.42 | $174.95 |
| Target upsidei | +1.49% | +19.07% |
| Metric | TMO | A |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 10.50% | 8.10% |
| Earnings growthi | 9.40% | 8.50% |
| EPS growthi | +9.40% | +8.50% |
| FCF margini | +13.46% | +14.38% |
| Operating margini | 18.75% | 25.56% |
| Profit margini | 15.04% | 19.53% |
| ROIC proxyi | 13.51% | 20.97% |
| Return on equityi | 13.51% | 20.97% |
| Dividend yieldi | 0.30% | 0.69% |
| Payout ratioi | 9.70% | 19.98% |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | No increase yet |
| Betai | 0.85 | 1.24 |
| Debt/equityi | 80.58 | 56.34 |
| Current ratioi | 1.55 | 2.05 |
| Quick ratioi | 1.01 | 1.41 |
Over the past year, TMO and A have moved strongly in the same direction (correlation of 0.73), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | TMO | A |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +20.85% | +18.87% |
| CAGRi | +20.92% | +18.93% | |
| Volatilityi | 29.50% | 32.92% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.64 | 0.56 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.96 | 0.93 | |
| Max drawdowni | 31.45% | 29.87% | |
| Current drawdowni | 3.74% | 5.23% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 12.31% | 13.48% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 16.13% | 16.50% | |
| Max daily dropi | 9.20% | 5.06% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 11.02% | 8.22% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +7.21% | +11.37% |
| CAGRi | +1.40% | +2.18% | |
| Volatilityi | 27.89% | 30.73% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.03 | 0.08 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.04 | 0.11 | |
| Max drawdowni | 41.02% | 38.09% | |
| Current drawdowni | 3.74% | 5.23% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 18.11% | 17.89% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 20.03% | 19.80% | |
| Max daily dropi | 9.20% | 9.66% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 13.18% | 14.03% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +378.12% | +320.76% |
| CAGRi | +16.94% | +15.46% | |
| Volatilityi | 26.73% | 28.40% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.55 | 0.49 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.81 | 0.71 | |
| Max drawdowni | 41.02% | 43.19% | |
| Current drawdowni | 3.74% | 5.23% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 11.20% | 14.97% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 14.79% | 19.08% | |
| Max daily dropi | 9.20% | 11.01% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 13.18% | 21.18% |
| Category | TMO | A |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. | Agilent Technologies, Inc. |
| Sector | Healthcare | Healthcare |
| Industry | Diagnostics & Research | Diagnostics & Research |
| Core business | Thermo Fisher Scientific is the world's largest life science tools company, providing laboratory instruments, reagents, consumables, and CRO/CMO services for pharmaceutical and biotech drug development, research, clinical diagnostics, and environmental testing — operating as the essential supplier to life science research globally. | Agilent Technologies provides analytical instruments, consumables, software, and services for life science and applied markets — including liquid chromatography (LC), mass spectrometry (MS), gas chromatography (GC), spectroscopy, pathology (DAKO cancer diagnostics), and genomics (SureSelect) for pharma, food safety, environmental, and forensics customers. |
| Investor focus | Investors track Thermo Fisher's organic revenue growth (ex-COVID testing and vaccines), bioprocessing recovery, Life Science Solutions segment performance, pharma services (CDMO/CRO) bookings, and the company's capital allocation between acquisitions and buybacks. | Investors track Agilent's revenue by end market (pharma, food, environmental, forensics), instrument order trends, liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry market share, and margin efficiency. |
- Scale leadership as the world's largest life science tools company creates unique breadth advantage — researchers can source most laboratory needs from a single Thermo Fisher supplier relationship
- Diversified across four segments (Life Science Solutions, Analytical Instruments, Laboratory Products & Services, Pharma Services) provides resilience when any single end market slows
- Pharma services (PPD CRO, CDMO manufacturing) provides a fee-for-service recurring revenue stream less dependent on instrument purchase cycles
- Market-leading position in liquid chromatography (LC) and LC/MS instruments used extensively in pharmaceutical quality control and new drug development
- Diversified end markets spanning pharma, food safety, environmental testing, and forensics provides resilience when any single end market slows — food and environmental testing are less correlated to pharma spending cycles
- DAKO oncology pathology products provide diagnostics exposure to companion diagnostics and cancer biomarker testing as personalized medicine grows
- Biopharma funding environment affects instrument purchasing — when biotech funding is tight, smaller biotech companies reduce capital equipment purchases, affecting Thermo Fisher's instrument revenue
- Post-COVID normalization created a significant air pocket in revenue — COVID testing, vaccine manufacturing, and pandemic-related demand was extraordinary and has since normalized sharply
- Thermo Fisher's scale means acquisitions must be increasingly large to move the needle — smaller bolt-on acquisitions have less relative impact than on smaller peers
- Pharmaceutical market exposure means Agilent shares the same biopharma spending cycle risks as other life science tool companies — funding tightness affects instrument purchases
- Competition from Waters Corporation in LC/MS and Bruker in mass spectrometry means Agilent must continuously invest in instrument performance to maintain market share
- China represents a significant portion of Agilent revenue — geopolitical tensions, economic slowdown, and Chinese government buy-domestic preferences create headwinds for multinational lab instrument suppliers
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