Topic: How To Invest

Pat: May I have your views on Thermo Fisher Scientific and Owens Corning?

Article Excerpt

Thermo Fisher Scientific, $102.02, symbol TMO on New York (Shares outstanding: 361.4 million; Market cap: $36.9 billion; www.thermofisher.com), is the world’s largest maker of scientific and laboratory equipment. The company was created in 2006, when Thermo Electron merged with Fisher Scientific. In the three months ended September 28, 2013, Thermo Fisher’s revenue rose 3.4%, to $3.19 billion from $3.09 billion a year earlier. Earnings per share rose 9.2%, to $1.30 from $1.19. Thermo Fisher holds cash of $1.8 billion, or $0.13 a share. Its $6.7 billion of long-term debt is a low 18.2% of its $36.9-billion market cap. The company is now purchasing Life Technologies Corp. for $13.6 billion. Life Technologies sells products and services for scientific research and genetic analysis, as well as applications like forensics and food safety. The company reported $3.8 billion of revenue in 2012. Thermo Fisher’s stock is up 59% over the past year and now trades at 17.0 times next year’s forecast per-share earnings of…