April 23 (Reuters) - Thermo Fisher Scientific TMO.N reported better-than-expected profit and revenue for the first quarter on Wednesday, helped by resilient demand for its products and services used for developing therapies.

The Waltham, Massachusetts-based company provides instruments, software and services and diagnostic test kits to pharmaceuticals and early-stage biotech companies.

Chief Executive Officer Marc Casper said the company "delivered very strong performance in the first quarter in a more uncertain macroeconomic environment".

Contract drug manufacturers have seen weak order levels in the past two years due to reduced spending from biotech clients. Investors have said the biotech sector's funding crunch, which was expected to improve this year, could be prolonged due to policy uncertainty from the Trump administration.

"We view the slight top and bottom line beat as a positive, but ultimately guidance will be key to the stock performance today," RBC Capital Markets analyst Conor McNamara said.

Thermo Fisher said it would provide updated 2025 financial forecast during its earnings conference call later in the day.

The company earned $5.15 per share on an adjusted basis during the quarter ended March 29, compared with analysts' average estimate of $5.10 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Sales in its specialty diagnostics segment, which provides diagnostic kits and instruments, rose 3.5% to $1.15 billion.

Peer Danaher DHR.N also beat first-quarter profit estimate on better-than-expected demand for its respiratory testing kits.

Thermo Fisher's revenue came in at $10.36 billion, above analysts' estimate of $10.23 billion.

Revenue in its laboratory products segment, which makes up more than half of its total sales, came in at $5.64 billion, mostly in line with analysts' estimate.

During the quarter, the company also said it would buy Solventum's SOLV.N purification and filtration business for about $4.1 billion.

(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole and Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)

((siddhi.mahatole@thomsonreuters.com))