Sifting through countless of stocks in the Life Sciences Tools & Services industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. or Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. provides drug discovery, non-clinical development, and safety testing services in the United States, Europe, Canada, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The Research Models and Services segment produces and sells rodents, and purpose-bred rats and mice for use by researchers. This segment also provides a range of services to assist its clients in supporting the use of research models in research and screening pre-clinical drug candidates, including genetically engineered models and services, insourcing solutions, and research animal diagnostic services; and engages in development and production of cell therapies. The Discovery and Safety Assessment segment offers in vitro and in vivo discovery services for the discovery, development, and safety testing of novel drugs, molecule compounds, oligonucleotides, and biotherapeutics, and antibodies through delivery of preclinical drug and therapeutic candidates ready for safety assessment; safety assessment services, such as toxicology, pathology, safety pharmacology, bioanalysis, drug metabolism, and pharmacokinetics services; and vivarium space services. The Manufacturing Solutions segment provides in vitro methods for conventional and rapid quality control testing of sterile and non-sterile pharmaceuticals and consumer products; offers specialized testing of biologics that are outsourced by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies; and contract development and manufacturing products and services. The company has strategic collaborations with Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles across its contract development and manufacturing organization. Additionally, it has a strategic alliance with Francis Crick Institute (Crick), Inc. for the development of Antibody-Drug Conjugate (ADC) drug discovery and development. Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. was founded in 1947 and is headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. provides life sciences solutions, analytical instruments, specialty diagnostics, and laboratory products and biopharma services in the North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and internationally. It operates through four segments: Life Sciences Solutions, Analytical Instruments, Specialty Diagnostics, and Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services. The Life Sciences Solutions segment includes reagents, instruments, and consumables for biological and medical research; discovery and production of drugs and vaccines; and diagnosis of infections and diseases. Its Analytical Instruments segment provides instruments, consumables, software, and services for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic, government, environmental, and other research and industrial markets, as well as clinical laboratories. The Specialty Diagnostics segment offers clinical diagnostics products, such as liquid ready-to-use and lyophilized immunodiagnostic reagent kits, calibrators, controls, protein detection assays, and instruments; immunodiagnostic offerings comprising developing, manufacturing, and marketing of complete blood-test systems for the clinical diagnosis and monitoring of allergy, asthma and autoimmune diseases; microbiology offerings, such as dehydrated and prepared culture media, collection and transport systems, instrumentation and consumables to detect pathogens in blood, diagnostic and rapid direct specimen tests, quality-control products, and associated products; transplant diagnostics products, including human leukocyte antigen typing and testing for the organ transplant market; and healthcare market channel offerings. Its Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services segment provides laboratory products, research and safety market channel, and pharma services and clinical research. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. was founded in 1956 and is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Latest Life Sciences Tools & Services and Charles River Laboratories International, Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. Stock News

As of April 28, 2026, Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. had a $8.2 billion market capitalization, compared to the Life Sciences Tools & Services median of $1.4 million. Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.’s stock is down 16.4% in 2026, down 8.9% in the previous five trading days and up 45.47% in the past year.

Currently, Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. does not have a price-earnings ratio. Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $4.0 billion with a -3.6% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was -0.8%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $11.050 per share for the current fiscal year. Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. does not currently pay a dividend.

As of April 28, 2026, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. had a $174.7 billion market cap, putting it in the 99th percentile of all stocks. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.’s stock is down 18.9% in 2026, down 10.4% in the previous five trading days and up 10.84% in the past year.

Currently, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 26.5. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $44.6 billion with a 15.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 7.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $24.868 per share for the current fiscal year. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. currently has a 0.4% dividend yield.

How We Compare Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.	CRL	C
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.	TMO	D

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has a Value Score of 48, which is Average. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a Value Score of 26, which is Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. or Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. or Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.	CRL	B
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.	TMO	B

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has a Quality Score of 77, which is Strong. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a Quality Score of 72, which is Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Quality Grade breakdown above, both Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. have a grade of B. For investors who focus solely on a company’s overall quality, you will need to conduct further research into both companies to see if they are a good fit for your portfolio. As a good rule of thumb, you should always analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before choosing a company to invest in.

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.	CRL	C
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.	TMO	B

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 48, which is Neutral. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 71, which is Positive.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than Charles River Laboratories International, Inc.. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. Grades

In addition to Quality, Estimate Revisions and Value, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Momentum.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. or Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. Stock?

Overall, Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 48, Estimate Revisions Score of 48 and Quality Score of 77.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. stock has a Value Score of 26, Estimate Revisions Score of 71 and Quality Score of 72.

Comparing Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.