The diagnostics and research industry has been witnessing growing demand and rising investor attention thanks to its successes in identifying infectious and chronic diseases efficiently. As two prominent industry participants, Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO) and Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) should benefit from the industry’s growth. But which of these stocks is a better buy now? Read more to find out.Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO) in Waltham, Mass., and Exact Sciences Corporation (EXAS) in Madison, Wisc., are two prominent players in the diagnostics and research industry. TMO offers life sciences solutions, analytical instruments, specialty diagnostics, and laboratory products and services worldwide. The company serves pharmaceutical and biotech companies, hospitals and clinical diagnostic labs, universities, research institutions, and government agencies. In comparison, EXAS provides cancer screening and diagnostic test products internationally. It offers Cologuard, a non-invasive stool-based DNA screening test, to detect DNA and hemoglobin biomarkers associated with colorectal cancer, pre-cancer, and Oncotype DX, and also focuses on developing blood and other fluid-based tests.
Early prediction and further analysis of acute diseases using diagnostics devices, the integration of new technologies, and research breakthroughs have enabled the diagnostics and research industry to grow significantly over the past few years. The heightened need for advanced diagnostics and research services in identifying chronic and infectious diseases should keep driving the industry’s growth. The global point of care diagnostics market size is expected to grow at an 11.4% CAGR to $50.60 billion by 2025. So, both TMO and EXAS are expected to benefit.
But while EXAS shares have lost 27.8% in price year-to-date, TMO has surged 30%. TMO is a clear winner with 30.2% gains versus EXAS’ negative returns in terms of their past year’s performance. But which of these stocks is a better pick now? Let’s find out.