Shares of Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) fell Wednesday morning after the medical equipment manufacturer slashed its annual profit forecast.
The company dropped its full-year earnings projection to between $22.28 and $22.72 per share, compared to its previous forecast of $23.70. The Street had been expecting a profit of $23.55.
Its annual sales forecast is now between $43.4 billion and $44 billion, down from $45.3 billion and compared to analyst expectations of $45.21 billion.
Thermo Fisher has been hurt by softening demand for its services, which include tools and compounds used to make therapeutics and vaccines.
Compounding the problem has been higher interest rates, which cuts down on the money available for drug development programs and thus the contract research services Thermo Fisher offers.
Shares fell 3.3% to $552 before the opening bell Wednesday.
That wasn’t helped by the fact that the company’s second-quarter revenue of $10.69 billion and earnings of $5.15 per share also missed Street expectations of $10.98 billion and $5.43 per share, respectively.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
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