The Zacks Instruments - Scientific industry is suffering from challenging macroeconomic conditions. The continuing war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East increase the risk of rising energy prices and sluggishness in the European economy, which are headwinds. However, increasing healthcare spending, driven by aging demography, and continued innovation in the pharma and life sciences end markets are positives.
Higher demand for generic drugs and biosimilars is driving growth for scientific tool and apparatus providers. Industry participants like Mettler-Toledo International and Harvard Bioscience are gaining from the growing testing needs of newer biological drugs. The increasing demand for automated solutions that help in ensuring compliance is encouraging. AI continues to drive demand for semiconductor metrology and advanced packaging tools.
Industry Description
The Zacks Instruments - Scientific industry comprises companies offering scientific instruments, analytical tools, diagnostic solutions, precision instruments & services, and test & sensor solutions. The primary end markets served by the industry participants are life science research in academia, medical schools and government, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, microbiology and diagnostics, nanotechnology, and materials science research.
A few companies also serve food and nutritional safety, as well as biochemical and industrial spaces. Most industry participants are under stringent regulatory scrutiny worldwide. They have to adhere to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency norms, as well as rules set by other global regulatory bodies, for serving highly regulated end-markets like life sciences and pharma.
3 Trends Shaping the Instruments - Scientific Industry's Future
Strong End-Market Demand: The industry is benefiting from strong end-market demand, particularly from the life science, pharmaceutical and academic markets. Increasing demand for generic drugs and biosimilars is driving growth for scientific tool and apparatus providers. Pharma companies are focused on rapidly growing areas like proteomics and phenomics, biopharma and applied, microbiology and diagnostics, and neuroscience and cell microscopy. This creates significant demand for the instruments provided by industry participants.
Aging Demography Driving Spending: Socioeconomic factors like aging demography and increasing environmental regulations are fueling the demand for scientific measurement solutions. Robust worldwide healthcare spending is another major growth driver.
Emerging Market Prospects Solid: The industry is gaining from increasing exposure to developing economies like China and India. Prospects in China are huge as regulators attempt to raise the country's biopharma industry to global standards. Efforts to improve the country's drug development process and production quality are noteworthy. Robust investments in segments like lithium-ion batteries and biopharma are driving prospects. The growing demand for automation is a long-term driver in China. These factors result in a strong demand for instruments.
Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Dim Prospects
The Zacks Instruments - Scientific industry is housed within the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector. It carries a Zacks Industry Rank #189, which places it in the bottom 25% of more than 250 Zacks industries.
The group's Zacks Industry Rank, which is the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates bearish near-term prospects. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than two to one.
The industry's position in the bottom 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries is a result of a negative earnings outlook for the constituent companies in aggregate. Looking at the aggregate earnings estimate revisions, analysts are pessimistic about this group's earnings growth potential. Since Oct. 31, 2023, the industry's earnings estimates have moved down by 9.8%.
Given the bearish near-term outlook, there are only a few stocks in the industry worth watching. But before we present those stocks that you may want to consider for your portfolio, let's take a look at the industry's recent stock-market performance and valuation picture.
Industry Lags Sector and S&P 500
The Zacks Instruments – Scientific industry has underperformed the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector and the S&P 500 over the past year.
The industry has gained 22% over this period compared with the S&P 500's growth of 39.4% and the broader sector's return of 48.3%.
Industry's Current Valuation
On the basis of the forward 12-month P/E, which is a commonly used multiple for valuing scientific instrument stocks, we see that the industry is currently trading at 21.57X compared with the S&P 500's 22.05X and the Zacks Computer and Technology sector's 26.84X.
Over the last five years, the industry has traded as high as 43.21X and as low as 21.57X, with a median of 29.31X.
2 Scientific Instruments Providers to Watch
Mettler-Toledo: This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company is benefiting from improving demand across the Laboratory segment. The solid execution of its Spinnaker and SternDrive programs is likely to aid top-line growth. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Mettler-Toledo's portfolio strength, cost-cutting efforts, margin and productivity initiatives, and robust sales and marketing strategies are driving prospects.
Shares of this Polaris Parkway, Columbus-based company have gained 6.8% in the year-to-date period. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Mettler-Toledo's current-year earnings has decreased by a penny to $40.34 per share in the past 30 days.
Harvard Bioscience: This Holliston, MA-based company has been suffering from supply chain issues, which it expects will be resolved in the second half of the year. Ongoing investments in new products are expected to benefit HBIO's top-line growth.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HBIO's current-year earnings has been unchanged at 20 cents per share over the past 30 days. Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 company have declined 54.7% year to date.
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