Based on the aggregated intelligence of 180,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, analytical instrument specialist Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO) has earned a coveted five-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Thermo Fisher's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Thermo Fisher facts

Headquarters (Founded) Waltham, Mass. (1956)
Market Cap $19.6 billion
Industry Life sciences tools and services
Trailing-12-Month Revenue $11.5 billion
Management CEO Marc Casper (since 2009)
CFO Peter Wilver (since 2004)
Return on Equity (Average, Past 3 Years) 6.3%
Cash/Debt $898.3 million / $7.1 billion
Competitors Agilent Technologies
Beckman Coulter
Becton Dickinson

Sources: S&P Capital IQ and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 96% of the 567 members who have rated Thermo Fisher believe the stock will outperform the S&P 500 going forward.

Just last week, one of those bulls, All-Star bradford86, tapped the stock as a solid way to go for growth:

Thermo Fisher … has a history of beating their consensus expectations. ... [E]ven analyst bearish cases forecast top line revenue growth and EPS estimates holding the line, so to speak. I think that the present valuation is pricing in the analyst worst case scenario. There is upside here and I think that this one got beat up by tax loss selling last year and the swing up that you've seen so far this year is simply the January effect. Is there more to this beyond just an effect? I think so. Target: $52-$57.

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