Thermo Fisher Scientific reported fourth-quarter non-GAAP earnings of $6.57 per share, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6.43 and up from $6.10 in the year-ago quarter. Revenue for the period exceeded analysts’ forecasts, driven by a 7% organic increase in sales. The Life Sciences Solutions segment led growth with a 9% uptick, propelled by strong orders for PCR reagents and next-generation sequencing consumables. Management noted that gross margin expanded by 120 basis points year-over-year due to operational leverage and favorable product mix, positioning the company for sustained profitability improvements in 2026.

Thermo Fisher’s Analytical Instruments and Specialty Diagnostics divisions each delivered double-digit organic revenue gains, reflecting heightened demand for chromatographs, mass spectrometers and immunoassay kits used in drug development and quality control. Pharmaceutical clients accounted for approximately 45% of total fourth-quarter revenues, with new instrument orders up 15% sequentially. The company highlighted a record backlog of instrument orders exceeding $3.5 billion, and recurring service contracts grew 11%, underscoring the stickiness of its installed base and the predictability of aftermarket revenue.

In January, Thermo Fisher expanded its strategic relationship with NVIDIA and Eli Lilly by agreeing to integrate its automated sample-preparation robots into the newly announced co-innovation AI lab. The partnership will deploy Thermo Fisher’s Tempest automated pipetting systems alongside NVIDIA’s BioNeMo platform to accelerate AI-driven drug discovery workflows. Thermo Fisher expects the collaboration to generate incremental multiyear service and consumable revenues beginning in mid-2026, reinforcing its leadership in lab automation and positioning the company to capture a growing share of the AI-enabled life sciences market.