NEW YORK – Investment bank Barclays Capital said on Wednesday that it is downgrading Thermo Fisher Scientific and Danaher from an Overweight to an Equal Weight rating.
The bank also increased the price target for Danaher from $215 to $240 and the price target for Thermo Fisher from $475 to $555.
Thermo Fisher "has a consistent track record of organic growth, capital deployment, and management execution," Barclays analyst Luke Sergott wrote in a note to investors. "However, [the company] is trading above historic valuations which we cannot substantiate given market weakness."
Commenting on Danaher’s new rating, Sergott noted that the company "seems priced to perfection and we see little upside to current valuations."
Additionally, Barclays downgraded the US life science tools and diagnostics industry from Positive to Neutral. Barclays analysts attributed the downgrading to the "recent run in shares" and stocks trading "at or above historical premiums to the market, leaving little room for more multiple expansion" as well as the "macro uncertainty across the end markets."
In Wednesday afternoon trading on the Nasdaq, Thermo Fisher’s shares were down 1 percent at $543.32. Shares of Danaher were also down almost 1 percent at $229.99.