United First Partners chief Stephane Mardel says bullish preliminary results from life science toolmaker PerkinElmer (PKI +3.5%) is ratcheting up the pressure on Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO -0.4%) to sweeten its €39/share (€10.4B) bid for diagnostic testmaker Qiagen (QGEN -0.1%).
Earlier today, PKI announced that it expects Q2 growth in reported and organic revenue of 12% driven by robust demand for its solutions supporting global COVID-19 testing. By comparison, revenue growth over the past five quarters has averaged ~3%.
Several weeks ago, QGEN announced that it planned to release preliminary Q2 results sometime this month followed by final results on August 4. The period of acceptance of TMO's offer is May 18 - July 27. Considering its exposure to COVID-19 testing, preliminary results should be bullish.
Last week, institutional investor Davidson Kempner sent a letter to Qiagen's board about TMO's "inadequate" bid. Proxy advisor Glass Lewis has recommended voting against "Top Up" resolutions.
