Portfolio evolution helps Danaher post "solid" Q3
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
Jefferies analyst Brandon Couillard has raised his 2014 earnings forecast for Danaher to $3.80 per share, from $3.75, on the back of a “solid” third quarter. He noted that the company’s Q3 “core EPS of $0.84 was $0.01 ahead of consensus on better than expected core revenue growth [3% vs his estimate of 2.5%] and profitability experiences.” Danaher’s Q3 sales grew 6% to $4.67bn on a reported basis, up 3% at constant currency. The company has benefited from “portfolio repositioning efforts,” the analyst added, and “expansion in its life sciences & diagnostics and dental franchises helped mitigate the effects of muted trends in certain industrial-oriented areas, which appear to be stabilizing.” Danaher was recently boosted by the approval of a key troponin test, used as a marker of heart attack, developed by its Beckman Coulter subsidiary (www.clinica.co.uk, 27 September 2013). There has also been speculation that Danaher could be in the running to acquire Johnson & Johnson’s Ortho Clinical Diagnostics unit (www.clinica.co.uk, 11 September 2013).