Cramer called big tech “millstones” and named life sciences suppliers the “new techs” replacing data centers as the dominant investment theme, as the NASDAQ-100 fell 9% last month.
Agilent leads the three stocks up 29% year to date, powered by 70%-plus GLP-1-related growth and a 20% rise in PFAS testing demand.
Near-term data backs Cramer’s thesis, but over five years the benchmark gained 62% while Thermo Fisher, Agilent, and Waters returned only 9%, 11%, and 32%.
Just released. Our analysts combed the entire stock market and named the ten best stocks to buy right now, and Thermo Fisher Scientific didn’t make the cut. Enter your email to see the names that beat TMO. The report is free. Enter your email and see if any of your stocks made the cut.
“For the last few years we’ve been conditioned to think that tech will be led by an Alphabet or an Amazon, Nvidia, a Meta, a Microsoft. But those have almost been millstones around investors.” Jim Cramer made that call on Mad Money on November 3, 2026. He named a new set of leaders: the companies that sell instruments and supplies to drug developers and labs. The data mostly backs him up over the past year, with one longer-term caveat.
Why Cramer Is Holding Off on Tech
Cramer said he wants more confirmation before he goes back into the sector: “I like that the election will soon be behind us. That’s a positive. I would like to wait for the crescendo before I commit too much money back to tech because so many other areas are working.” On the election, he added, “Whatever ties up the government is good for stocks. Gridlock’s been good for the market.”
24/7 Wall St.
He also left room for hope. He pointed to strong quarters from Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) and Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET), saying, “I want to believe that the non-magnificent tech can lead us.” Recent prices support his caution. The megacap-heavy NASDAQ-100 benchmark fell 9.3% over the past month.
——
Free Report, Just Released
Why Didn’t TMO Make The Top 10 List?
24/7 Wall St has helped investors make money for over two decades, and our top analysts just finished ranking the definitive Top 10 Stocks To Buy Now. Not the ten biggest companies. Not the ten everyone is arguing about. The ten best stocks to buy right now.
And TMO didn’t make the cut!
The report is free, and you can see why we think each stock is a top investment today.
Cramer called life sciences suppliers the industry’s arms dealers: “They are the new techs, the ones that seem to be replacing the data center as the theme. If that’s the case, then I know they have a lot more room to run.” He said the FDA “seems to have gotten more interested in both encouraging innovation for new medicines and, probably most important, speeding up the new approval process.” The chief executive of Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO), speaking on Mad Moneysaid regulators “want to adapt to the technologies that exist today. That’s huge.”
Thermo Fisher Trades Near Its 52-Week High
Thermo Fisher sells mass spectrometers, electron microscopes, reagents, and lab supplies. It also runs clinical trials and manufactures drugs for pharma clients. The stock is up 20.5% year to date, compared with 10.6% for the benchmark. It is also trading close to its 52-week high of $781.62. In its third-quarter report filed with the SEC, revenue grew 9.1% to $12.137 billion, and adjusted EPS of $6.68 beat the consensus estimate of $6.40. The stock trades at about 25x forward earnings. The main risk is that academic and government revenue was flat in the quarter, and the company depends on customer capital budgets.
TMO Analyst Ratings — 24/7 Wall St.
TMO Price Target — 24/7 Wall St.
Agilent Leads the Group This Year
Agilent Technologies (NYSE:A) makes liquid and gas chromatography systems and ICP-MS instruments, and it earns recurring service and consumables revenue through its CrossLab group. Shares are up 28.9% year to date, the best of the three. GLP-1-related activity grew more than 70%, and PFAS testing rose 20%. Management raised fiscal 2026 non-GAAP EPS guidance to $6.18 to $6.21. The main risk: about 110 bps of the quarter’s margin expansion came from a one-time tariff refund, and academic and government sales fell 3%.
Waters (NYSE:WHAT) sells LC-MS instruments, columns, and Empower lab software. It added flow cytometry and diagnostics capabilities through its BD business acquisition, which contributed $896 million in the third quarter. Organic revenue grew 10% in constant currency, and Waters raised its 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to $14.60 to $14.70. The stock is up 22.1% over one year, though it slipped 1.9% last week. The main risk here is that purchase accounting cut GAAP EPS to $0.82, and quarterly free cash flow fell 58.0% year over year.
WAT Analyst Ratings — 24/7 Wall St.
WAT Price Target — 24/7 Wall St.
Does Cramer’s Rotation Thesis Hold Up?
In the near term, the data supports him. All three stocks beat the benchmark over one month and year to date. Over five years, the benchmark comes out well ahead. Thermo Fisher is up 8.7%, Agilent up 10.9%, and Waters up 32.2%, while the benchmark gained 62.3%. That makes this year’s run a recovery from a weak stretch. Each company’s growth now draws on GLP-1s, PFAS testing, and AI-driven lab demand.
Three things would weaken the thesis:
Megacap tech taking back leadership
FDA approval timelines failing to get shorter
Pharma budgets tightening
Thermo Fisher plans to share more details on AI at its next investor day, and Agilent’s fiscal fourth-quarter report will show whether the momentum carried through to year-end.
Got $1,000? Before You Buy TMO, Read This
If you have cash sitting in your account right now, give this two minutes. After more than two decades of helping investors beat the market, our top analysts at 24/7 Wall St. put together a definitive report on the Top 10 Stocks To Buy Today. And TMO wasn’t one of them.
They combed the entire market. It’s not 10 ideas, not 10 stocks everyone is talking about, it’s what their research points to as the 10 best stocks to buy right now, and it’s free. Read more here and see which stocks made the list –>>
