Thermo Fisher sells the picks and shovels. The gold rush still reached it.
Thermo Fisher bought PPD for $17.4 billion in 2021. Revenue hit $44.92 billion in 2022, fell 5% in 2023 and sat flat at $42.88 billion in 2024. Selling to a boom means sharing its cycle.
Transcript
Selling the picks and shovels does not make you immune to the gold rush. Thermo Fisher shows why.
Thermo Fisher sells tools to drugmakers. In December 2021, riding a COVID-flush balance sheet, it bought the contract researcher PPD for $17.4 billion in cash.
Thermo Fisher's revenue swelled to $44.92 billion in 2022, as COVID work peaked. It fell 5% in 2023, and sat flat at $42.88 billion in 2024.
Services became the heart of Thermo Fisher: 52% of revenue in 2024. And earnings per share still grew 7%, to $16.53.
If you sell to a booming industry, your revenue booms and normalizes with it. Plan for both halves.
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Every figure in the video comes from this Decision Record, each with its sources.
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