New York, Feb 17, 2026, 14:48 EST — Regular session
- Thermo Fisher shares were down less than 0.1% in afternoon trade, lagging a choppy healthcare tape.
- Peer Danaher slid after agreeing to buy Masimo, refocusing attention on dealmaking across diagnostics and tools.
- Investors are watching Thermo’s Clario financing and the next round of sector earnings for demand clues.
Thermo Fisher Scientific shares were little changed on Tuesday, last down $0.43 at $504.39 in afternoon trading.
The stock’s calm comes as deal talk returns to the life-sciences complex after Danaher said it would buy Masimo for $9.9 billion, a move that drew mixed early reviews on Wall Street. J.P. Morgan analysts called a medtech target “surprising,” while Bernstein’s Christian Moore said the deal should look better over time. (Reuters)
Thermo Fisher has its own transaction overhang. The company priced $3.8 billion of USD-denominated senior notes this month to help fund its pending acquisition of clinical-trials data firm Clario, and its shares have fallen roughly 6% since the prior week’s selloff in large-cap tools names. (Thermo Fisher Scientific Investors)
In an SEC prospectus supplement tied to the debt sale, Thermo Fisher said the notes were expected to settle around Feb. 12, with interest beginning from that date and paid on a semi-annual basis.
Thermo Fisher agreed to buy Clario for $8.875 billion in cash at close, plus potential earnout and other payments tied largely to performance, Clario said in a deal announcement. (Clario)
The bigger question for investors remains end-demand. Thermo Fisher in late January forecast 2026 profit below estimates and flagged pressure from reduced U.S. academic research funding, even as it beat quarterly results estimates on demand from pharmaceutical clients for drug-development tools, Reuters reported. (Reuters)
Among peers on Tuesday, Danaher was down about 3.4%, while Agilent and Illumina were lower by about 1.2% and 0.1%, respectively.
Still, Thermo Fisher’s next moves are not clean. A delay in closing Clario, a swing in borrowing costs, or a deeper pullback in government and university spending could reopen the debate about how quickly tools demand normalizes this year.
For the week ahead, investors will look to Agilent’s Feb. 25 results for a read-through on lab spending and order timing, while market calendars list Thermo Fisher’s next earnings date as April 22. (Agilent)
