Quote this valuation with its source: Fair value, Potential value and the price at analysis.
FAQ
BIO — frequently asked questions
Is Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. overvalued?
In our latest published analysis dated 2026-10-14, BIO looks meaningfully overvalued. The price recorded at analysis is USD 362 versus our fair value of USD 165; the high endpoint is presented separately as potential value of USD 195. That implies roughly 54.5% downside to fair value at that date.
Our latest published report, analyzed 2026-10-14, gives BIO a fair value of USD 165 and a potential value of USD 195. The conclusion is triangulated across multiple valuation models and weighted by reliability for Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.'s archetype; it is a dated research output, not a live price.
Should I buy BIO now?
Our latest published rating for BIO, analyzed 2026-10-14, is Sell. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. looks meaningfully overvalued at the analysis-date price of USD 362 versus fair value of USD 165; potential value is USD 195. This is research for educational purposes, not personalized investment advice.
What are the biggest risks for BIO?
The dedicated bear-case section in our report analyzed 2026-10-14 documents Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc.'s material risks, evidence, thresholds, and thesis-invalidation conditions. Scenario-specific explanations remain in that section so the report does not repeat or decontextualize them elsewhere.
What is BIO's rating?
Our latest published rating for BIO, analyzed 2026-10-14, is Sell, with a published moat assessment of 6/10 (Narrow). It reflects our fair value of USD 165, the potential value of USD 195, and the price recorded at analysis (USD 362).
Accelerated commercialization and menu expansion on the integrated Stilla Technologies droplet digital PCR platforms, driving market share gains in oncology and translational research.
สิ่งที่จะเปลี่ยนมุมมองของเรา
Extended biopharma and academic lab spending freeze causing Life Science instrument sales contraction to persist in high teens.
Bio-Rad Laboratories carries a Sell rating as its share price of $362.43 as of October 14, 2026 trades at a 119.89% premium to its intrinsic fair value of $164.82, disconnected from sluggish Life Science demand and modest margin normalization.
The market prices Bio-Rad at 41.32x NTM forward earnings, a drastic valuation divergence relative to mature medical equipment and diagnostic peers whose median forward multiple is 15.2x (Zimmer Biomet at 10.1x, GE HealthCare at 12.7x, and STERIS at 17.7x). This multiple premium is unearned given current operating fundamentals.3
Operationally, the company faces persistent headwinds in its Life Science segment, where instrument sales declined in the high teens due to biopharma research austerity and cautious academic spending. Management's FY2026 guidance reflects this stagnation, anticipating currency-neutral between -3% and +0.5% and Life Science segment growth between -3% and -1%. While Clinical Diagnostics ($1,562.1 million in FY2025, or 60.5% of sales) provides resilient, high-switching-cost recurring , order timing and regional tender dynamics limit near-term organic growth.
Furthermore, Bio-Rad's margin recovery path is gradual. After GAAP operating margin troughing at 1.83% in FY2025 ($47.2 million operating income on $2,583.2 million revenue), FY2026 non-GAAP operating margin is guided to 10%-12%, expanding by only 40-50 basis points in FY2027. Even after modeling operating margins reaching 14.5% by FY2030, our comprehensive intrinsic valuation models—weighted across Forward Earnings ($169.90), Multi-Stage Moat Fade ($177.17), Discounted Earnings ($158.47), and Free Cash Flow to Firm ($139.15)—cannot support the current stock price. Investors should sell or liquidate positions.4,6
Switching Costs
Clinical Diagnostics generated $1,562.1M in FY2025 revenue (60.5% of total sales). Hospital and reference laboratories face high switching costs due to validated assay protocols and regulatory integration with clinical informatics systems.7
Acquisition of Stilla Technologies accelerated digital PCR development and enabled migration of catalog assays onto continuous multiplexing platforms ahead of schedule, creating proprietary intellectual property in genomics research.4
Cycle upside
A robust recovery characterized by rebounding venture capital investment into early-stage biotech, expanded NIH academic research funding, and accelerating replacement demand for analytical instrumentation.
ข้อแนะนำของบริษัท
Bio-Rad is a high-quality narrow-moat diagnostics business severely impaired by excessive market valuation. At 41.32x forward earnings and more than double its intrinsic fair value of $164.82, the stock offers an unfavorable risk-reward profile, warranting a Sell rating.
ภาพรวมบริษัท
Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. manufactures and distributes life science research products and clinical diagnostics systems globally. The company operates through two primary reporting segments: Clinical Diagnostics and Life Science. Clinical Diagnostics generates the majority of revenue ($1,562.1 million in FY2025, or 60.5% of sales), supplying quality controls, blood typing reagents, and diagnostic test systems to hospital networks and commercial clinical laboratories. Life Science generated $1,021.1 million in FY2025, delivering droplet digital PCR platforms, electrophoresis systems, and reagents to biopharma companies and academic research institutions.
Geographically, the business is well-diversified across mature and developing healthcare markets. In FY2025, the United States accounted for $1,022.7 million in revenue, Europe represented $881.8 million, Asia Pacific generated $513.3 million, and the other Americas regions contributed $165.4 million. In addition to its operating segments, Bio-Rad holds an equity stake in Sartorius AG, which creates substantial GAAP earnings volatility through non-operating valuation marks.
§2 กรณีลบEN
A severe macroeconomic stress test compounding the three kill scenarios models an extended freeze in biopharma capital expenditure where Life Science instrument revenue declines at double-digit rates through FY2027, operating restructuring savings are completely offset by freight and wage inflation holding EBIT margins near 8%, and the terminal valuation derates to medtech peer median multiples of 15.2x. Under this scenario, Bio-Rad's normalized cash generation would contract toward $200M annually, precipitating severe equity repricing.
Life Science revenue remains flat or negative through FY2027 due to prolonged biopharma capex freezes.4
Operating margins remain capped near 10.0% due to persistent freight headwinds and execution delays.4
Terminal valuation multiple derates toward medtech peer median price-to-earnings multiples.
In the bear case, biopharma spending austerity extends through FY2027 while centralized healthcare procurement in China forces further pricing concessions. Operational restructuring fails to deliver targeted savings, leaving operating margins compressed near cyclical trough levels. As growth stagnates, Bio-Rad's valuation premium collapses toward peer median multiples.
วิธีที่ธีสิสนี้อาจล้มเหลว
Severe and prolonged biopharma research freeze leads to multi-year top-line revenue stagnation
Life Science sales contracted in the high teens for instruments, with segment revenue guided down -3% to -1% and consolidated revenue guided -3% to +0.5%. A prolonged freeze in customer capex would drag consolidated 5-year revenue growth down by 5 percentage points.4
FV impact
-4.6%
Revenue and EPS growth 5 points lower for five years
Bio-Rad Laboratories possesses a narrow economic moat rooted in high customer switching costs within Clinical Diagnostics and proprietary intellectual property in Life Science instrumentation. The Clinical Diagnostics segment accounts for $1,562.1 million or 60.5% of FY2025 consolidated revenue. Hospital networks and commercial laboratories operate Bio-Rad quality control systems and blood typing platforms within strictly regulated clinical workflows. Replacing these systems incurs substantial retraining expenses, validation downtime, and regulatory re-certification hurdles, resulting in highly dependable recurring consumable revenue across Europe ($881.8 million) and the United States ($1,022.7 million).
In the Life Science segment ($1,021.1 million in FY2025 revenue), the company's competitive advantage is sustained by proprietary droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) technology reinforced by the acquisition of Stilla Technologies. The rapid migration of Bio-Rad's catalog of assays onto Stilla's continuous multiplexing platform strengthens its technological lead against competitors. However, the moat remains narrow rather than wide due to substantial exposure to cyclical capital expenditure cycles in biopharma, where instrument demand contracted in the high teens, and persistent price competition in public procurement tenders.
กำไรเชิงเศรษฐกิจ
Normalized ROIC modestly exceeds the company's cost of capital (computed WACC of 9.68% and cost of equity of 9.48%), driven by high-margin diagnostic consumable pull-through offset by lower-margin instrument hardware.2
6/ 10
Narrow
Sources of advantage
01Switching Costs — Clinical Diagnostics generated $1,562.1M in FY2025 revenue (60.5% of total sales). Hospital and reference laboratories face high switching costs due to validated assay protocols and regulatory integration with clinical informatics systems.Moderate
02Intangible Assets — Acquisition of Stilla Technologies accelerated digital PCR development and enabled migration of catalog assays onto continuous multiplexing platforms ahead of schedule, creating proprietary intellectual property in genomics research.Moderate
ภัยคุกคามที่รู้ต่อความได้เปรียบ
ภัยคุกคาม
ความรุนแรง
ไทม์ไลน์
การบรรเทา
Centralized volume-based procurement and domestic preference policies in China impacting Asia Pacific revenue ($513.3M in FY2025).
medium
12-36 months
Bio-Rad initiated local manufacturing in China to satisfy domestic content mandates and maintain access to public healthcare tenders.
The highlighted cell is Fair value when every assumption sits at its base level ($164.82). Each row and column shows what Fair value becomes when one assumption moves.
Free cash flow to the firm stays positive in the first projected year at $161.8M after modeled reinvestment of $53.9M, with terminal value at 76.3% of enterprise value. A sudden drop in free cash flow is not projected unless capital spending relative to revenue, reinvestment, or gross margin resets materially.
Consolidated revenue growth transitions from -0.53% in FY2026 to 2.13% in FY2027 and 4.0%-4.5% long-term.1
Non-GAAP operating margin normalizes from 11.0% in FY2026 to 14.5% by FY2030.4
Terminal price-to-earnings multiple applied on forward earnings consistent with historical company averages.
In the base case, Clinical Diagnostics quality controls and blood typing generate steady recurring cash flows, offsetting near-term instrument weakness in Life Science. Operating margins expand modestly in FY2027 and normalize through FY2030 as operating expense rationalization takes hold. Consolidated revenue growth inflects higher after FY2027. Intrinsic valuation yields a central Fair value of $164.82 per share.
Even if operating margins exceed the guided range and revenue accelerates beyond expectations, the share price of $362.43 trades at a substantial premium over Fair value of $164.82, leaving valuation heavily extended.
ตามคาด
Maintain Sell; Maintain Sell recommendation and systematic exit strategy.
Results matching full-year guidance across operating margin and revenue growth validate our Fair value of $164.82 and confirm that the shares remain drastically overvalued relative to fundamental cash generation.
ต่ำกว่าคาด
Maintain Sell; Maintain Sell recommendation and execute stop-loss protections.
ทริกเกอร์: FY2026 non-GAAP operating margin falls below the guided range or revenue contraction exceeds the lower guidance bound
Operating margin compression below the guidance floor or revenue contraction beyond guided expectations indicates restructuring delays and biopharma stagnation, reinforcing the downside thesis well below Fair value of $164.82.
คุณภาพกำไร
Bio-Rad's earnings quality requires careful scrutiny due to significant divergence between GAAP and non-GAAP metrics. In FY2025, reported GAAP net income of $759.9M ($27.85 diluted EPS) was heavily distorted by unrealized mark-to-market adjustments on its equity investment in Sartorius AG, while GAAP operating income was only $47.2M (1.83% EBIT margin) on $2,583.2M revenue. Operating cash flow of $532.2M and free cash flow of $374.6M reflect solid cash generation from core operations, but headline GAAP earnings do not represent underlying operating run-rates.5
แนวโน้มประมาณการ
Consensus estimates have stabilized following the Q2 2026 earnings release, with FY2026 EPS consensus holding flat at $9.45 and revenue consensus at $2,569.5M (-0.53% growth). FY2027 estimates project modest reacceleration to $9.92 EPS and $2,624.2M revenue (+2.13%).1
Cash flow characteristics reflect the strength of Bio-Rad's consumable installed base. In FY2025, operating cash flow reached $532.2M and capital expenditures were $157.6M, yielding free cash flow of $374.6M. For FY2026, management reaffirmed full-year free cash flow guidance between $290M and $340M, confirming reliable cash conversion despite near-term top-line headwinds.4,5,6
การจัดสรรทุน
Capital allocation remains disciplined, prioritizing internal R&D, strategic technology acquisitions, and share repurchases over dividends. In FY2025, Bio-Rad repurchased $295.5M in shares, substantially outpacing of $58.0M. The acquisition of Stilla Technologies effectively deployed capital into margin-accretive digital PCR technology. Total debt stands at $1,370.4M, which remains manageable against annual .
Bio-Rad's historical return on invested capital experienced a cyclical trough in FY2025, driven by subdued GAAP operating income of $47.2M. As non-GAAP operating margins normalize to 10%-12% in FY2026 and approach mid-teens by 2030, ROIC is projected to recover modestly.
Operating ROIC is currently near parity with the company's computed WACC of 9.68%, indicating limited economic value creation during the current margin trough.
GAAP Net Income Is Severely Distorted by Non-Operating Equity Stakes
GAAP operating income in FY2025 was $47.2M (1.83% margin), whereas GAAP was $759.9M due to non-operating Sartorius AG valuation adjustments.
Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. (BIO) trades at 41.3x forward earnings against a peer median of 15.2x. Its EV/EBITDA of 21.5x compares with a peer median of 12.5x. The comparison uses 4 peers: Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc., STERIS plc, GE HealthCare Technologies Inc. and DexCom Inc., as of 2026-10-14.
§10 อุตสาหกรรมและวัฏจักรEN
ระยะของวัฏจักร
Contraction
Healthcare equipment industry capex-to-depreciation sits at 0.8x while capex-to-revenue is 4.5%, pointing to restrained capital reinvestment and below-replacement asset cycles across the broader peer group.
วัฏจักรขาขึ้น
A robust recovery characterized by rebounding venture capital investment into early-stage biotech, expanded NIH academic research funding, and accelerating replacement demand for analytical instrumentation.
วัฏจักรขาลง
A protracted downturn marked by prolonged biopharma research austerity, extended customer capex freezes, and intensifying tender price erosion in international markets.
แนวโน้มระยะยาว
แนวโน้ม
ผลกระทบ
หมายเหตุ
Automation and Quality Standardization in Clinical Diagnostics
positive
Clinical laboratories face rising test volumes and strict regulatory standards, expanding demand for automated, high-precision quality control reagents where Bio-Rad holds market leadership.
Expansion of Droplet Digital PCR and Liquid Biopsy Workflows
positive
Droplet digital PCR adoption is accelerating in translational oncology, cell therapy monitoring, and infectious disease detection, driving secular demand for multiplex digital platforms.
Higher borrowing costs and rationalized pipeline prioritization have caused biopharmaceutical sponsors and academic laboratories to freeze discretionary capital equipment budgets.
Global Healthcare Cost Containment and Tender Localization
negative
การวางตำแหน่ง
Bio-Rad's portfolio exhibits dual positioning across the industry cycle. Its Clinical Diagnostics business (60.5% of FY2025 revenue) is late-cycle and non-discretionary, generating steady consumable revenue. Conversely, its Life Science business (39.5% of revenue) is highly early-to-mid-cycle and directly exposed to biopharma capital freezes, which drove high-teens declines in instrument sales.4,7
§11 การจัดการสถานะEN
การกำหนดขนาด
0%
Conviction in the Sell rating is high given the dramatic 119.89% premium of the share price ($362.43 as of October 14, 2026) over intrinsic fair value ($164.82), backed by multiple independent valuation methodologies.
ความเสี่ยง
Investors holding long positions should execute an immediate, disciplined liquidation. If managing a tactical short position, risk should be capped with a strict stop-loss at $385.00 (approximately 6.2% above the share price of $362.43 as of October 14, 2026) to guard against irrational momentum or unexpected biopharma stimulus announcements.
Sluggish life science research funding and soft instrument demand restrict near-term organic growth, while cost restructuring yields only 40-50 bps of operating margin expansion in FY2027.4
Valuation
Avoid
Trading at 41.32x forward earnings versus a peer median of 15.2x creates an extreme valuation vulnerability, leaving fair value at $164.82 (-54.52% implied return).3
Risk-Reward
Avoid
Downside risks heavily dominate as multiple derating toward historical and peer medians would trigger severe equity contraction.
§14 ข้อแนะนำสุดท้ายEN
การกระทำ
ขาย
Bio-Rad Laboratories is rated Sell based on a fair value of $164.82 per share, indicating a -54.52% implied return from the prevailing price of $362.43. The stock trades at an extreme 119.89% premium to fair value.3
While the Clinical Diagnostics franchise ($1,562.1M revenue in FY2025) remains fundamentally sound with recurring quality control demand, current trading levels at 41.32x forward P/E drastically detach from medtech peer valuations (median 15.2x) and guided 10%-12% operating margins.
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Sources
The records this analysis drew on, as they stood when it was run.
Not every cited input appears here: internal calculations and intermediate model outputs have no external record, and some citations could not be matched to one.
Operating margin is currently guided to 10%-12% in FY2026 while historical GAAP EBIT was only 1.83% ($47.2M EBIT on $2,583.2M revenue),. Management cited ongoing freight and logistics headwinds and facility restructuring execution delays. A 300 bps operating margin compression would drop operating margin below 8%.4,6
The house forward earnings model applies a 20.0x terminal P/E, representing an elevated premium over peer median forward P/E of 15.2x (ZBH 10.1x, GEHC 12.7x, STE 17.7x). If recurring consumable quality controls fail to command a premium due to tender pricing and sluggish Life Science growth, a 20% multiple compression would drop the exit multiple to 16.0x.
Discounted forecast-period cash flows (US$29.26) plus discounted terminal value (US$94.33) minus signed per current share (-US$15.56) equals the US$139 lens value shown above. Negative net debt is , so subtracting it raises value.
Clinical Diagnostics generated $1,562.1M in FY2025 revenue (60.5% of total) and gross margins are guided to 53%-54% in FY2026.
Provides downside cash flow support and protects gross profitability even while instrumentation demand lags.
Margin Expansion Is Incremental and Phased Through 2027
Management guides non-GAAP operating margin to 10%-12% in FY2026 and approximately 40 to 50 bps expansion in FY2027.
Operating leverage will take multiple years to reach mid-teens targets, making current trading multiples unsustainable.
GE HealthCare Technologies Inc.GEHC
ราคา / มูลค่ายุติธรรม
มูลค่ายุติธรรมUS$68.29Report-date priceUS$64.29
วันที่ประเมิน
ความได้เปรียบในการแข่งขันNarrow
สกอร์การ์ดการลงทุน62 / 100
DexCom, Inc.DXCM
ราคา / มูลค่ายุติธรรม
มูลค่ายุติธรรมUS$58.97Report-date priceUS$85.36
วันที่ประเมิน
ความได้เปรียบในการแข่งขันWide
สกอร์การ์ดการลงทุน67 / 100
อัตรากำไร
BIO
Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc.
$9.7B
41.3x
3.7x
21.5x
3.1%
—
ZBH
Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc.
$17.5B
10.1x
2.1x
9.8x
6.4%
18.0%
STE
STERIS plc
$21.2B
17.7x
3.5x
13.9x
11.4%
19.2%
GEHC
GE HealthCare Technologies Inc.
$31.1B
12.7x
1.5x
11.1x
19.4%
15.0%
DXCM
DexCom Inc.
$32.1B
27.2x
6.5x
22.5x
38.5%
24.3%
Governments in Asia Pacific and Europe are expanding volume-based procurement and demanding localized production to contain healthcare spending, compressing imported system margins.
Falls below 10.0% in FY2026
Lower terminal operating margin assumption to 12.0% and reduce forward earnings targets.