Thermo Fisher Scientific (TMO - option chain) shares are rising today after the company announced this morning that it will acquire all outstanding shares of Dionex Corp. (DNEX) for $188.50 per share in cash, for a total cost of $2.1 billion. TMO expects the deal to close in the first quarter of 2011. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on TMO.

TMO opened this morning at $54.97. So far today the stock has hit a low of $54.31 and a high of $55.49. As of 12:15, TMO is trading at $55.09 up $2.05 (3.9%). The chart for TMO looks bullish and S&P gives TMO a positive 5 STARS (out of 5) strong buy ranking.

The earnings crunch rolls on, and here are a few of the highlights of this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Activision Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI) earnings soared on popularity of Guitar Hero and other game franchises.
• Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) beat earnings expectations and offered revised guidance.
• Avon Products Inc. (NYSE: AVP) beat estimates despite lower profits due to restructuring costs.
• Chattem Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTT) beat estimates and raised its guidance.
• Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) met estimates but a weak forecast raised concerns.
• Dionex Corp. (NASDAQ: DNEX) beat estimates on strength in petrochemical and food/beverage markets.
• Electronic Data Systems Corp. (NYSE: EDS) earnings fell, helping to raise concerns about tech stocks.
• Flextronics International Ltd. (NASDAQ: FLEX) beat estimates and affirmed its outlook.
• Gannett Inc. (NYSE: GCI) missed fourth-quarter earnings estimates on lower ad revenue.
• Las Vegas Sands Corp. (NYSE: LVS) missed expectations due to rising construction costs.
• MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM) forecast it would beat earnings expectations by as much as 10 cents a share.
• Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. (NASDAQ: ODFL) beat revenue estimates and raised its guidance.
• RealNetworks Inc. (NASDAQ: RNWK) warned it would miss first-quarter and full-year expectations.
• Silicon Laboratories (NASDAQ: SLAB) beat expectations and raised its guidance.
• THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) posted disappointing results that included cancelled game franchises.
• Time Warner Inc. (NYSE: TWX) met estimates and announced restructuring plans (see transcript).
• Unilever (NYSE: UL) fourth-quarter net income tanked on a sell-off of its European frozen food business.
• Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) posted better-than-expected results on gains in TV and theme parks.

MOST NOTEWORTHY: Heelys, Citigroup, Alvarion, UBS AG and Alcatel-Lucent were today's noteworthy downgrades:

• CIBC downgraded Heelys (NASDAQ: HLYS) to Underperformer from Sector Performer. The analyst has little confidence sales will recover following the recent drop.
  
• CIBC also downgraded Citigroup (NYSE: C) to Sector Underperformer from Sector Performer, as they believe the company may have to cut its dividend, raise cash or sell assets in order to raise $30B over the near-term; the firm believes such a move would pressure shares significantly.
  
• Merriman downgraded shares of Alvarion (NASDAQ: ALVR) to Neutral from Buy after the in-line results as they now believe increased competition will pressure gross margins and minimize operating leverage in FY08.
  
• Merrill downgraded shares of UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) to Neutral from Buy to reflect the potential of further write downs.
  
• Banc of America lowered its rating on Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU) to Neutral from Buy to reflect poor execution of the company's turnaround strategy.

OTHER DOWNGRADES:

• Goldman removed Vimpelcom (NYSE: VIP) from its Pan European Buy List and downgraded shares to Neutral from Buy.
  
• Silicon Precision (NASDAQ: SPIL) was downgraded to Hold from Buy at ABN Amro.
  
• Lehman downgraded Amylin Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: AMLN) to Underweight from Equal Weight.
  
• Baird downgraded Dionex (NASDAQ: DNEX) to Underperform from Neutral.

Whether you are involved in drug discovery, pollution testing, chemical process control, or measurement of the nutritional content of food, you need precise and efficient ways of preparing and analyzing your samples. There's an outfit in Sunnyvale, California that makes machines that give you the right answers to a broad array of analytical questions....and they are automated!

Dionex Corporation (NASDAQ:DNEX) manufactures chromatography systems for chemical analysis. The company's devices are used to identify contaminants and impurities in a range of materials from foods and beverages to industrial chemicals. They are also used by life science investigators to separate and identify biological molecules such as amino acids, carbohydrates and proteins. The Dionex sales force is active throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

The firm pleased the Street late last month, when it reported Q2 EPS of 65 cents and revenues of $83.5 million. Those figures topped analyst expectations of 57 cents and $78.7 million. Management also guided Q3 EPS to 53-56 cents (55 cent consensus), Q3 revenues to $78-$81 million ($78.04 million consensus), FY07 EPS to $2.18-$2.24 ($2.13 consensus) and FY07 revenues to $312-$320 million ($311.36 million consensus). The CEO said that the Q2 sales and earnings figures were both new records for the company, growth coming from both instrumentation and consumables. The optimistic view forward derived from sales trends in the life science, chemical/petrochemical, electronics and power markets. DNEX shares jumped on the news and are now consolidating the gain in a bullish "pennant" pattern. Equities frequently exit pennants moving in the same direction they were traveling when they entered them. In this case, that would be to the upside.

Brokers recommend the issue with three "holds." Analysts see a 20% average annual growth rate, through the next five years. The DNEX Price to Free Cash Flow ratio (28.60), EPS Growth rate (27.58%), Operating Margin (19.67%), Return on Assets (15.02%), Return on Investment (19.63%) and Return on Equity (20.14%) compare favorably with industry, sector and S&P 500 averages.

Institutional investors hold about 91% of the outstanding shares. The stock is one of those used to calculate the S&P 600 SmallCap Index. Over the past 52 weeks, it has traded between $45.76 and $64.83. A stop-loss of $55.50 looks good here.

Larry Schutts is a contributing editor for Theflyonthewall.com and the Vice-President of Stockwinners.com.