Danaher tops quarterly estimates as diagnostic momentum builds

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By Padmanabhan Ananthan

(Reuters) -Life Sciences firm Danaher on Tuesday beat Wall Street’s third-quarter profit and revenue estimates, buoyed by resilient demand for its diagnostic testing tools and services, sending its shares up over 7% in early trading.

The company also maintained its expectations for full-year adjusted profit.

Danaher, which provides tools and technologies that help pharmaceutical companies develop and make drugs, noted increased client spending this quarter as drugmakers accelerate drug discovery due to upcoming patent expirations.

CEO Rainer Blair said policy risks are easing, boosting pharma customers’ confidence.

“There is more confidence that the policy environment is finding more balance,” he said during a conference call, noting that issues like the Most-Favored Nations discussions are workable and alleviate concerns for pharma customers.

Tariffs are also becoming more predictable, improving confidence around capital investment decisions, he added.

The China business, however, remained weak, with a mid‑single‑digit core revenue decline on volume‑based procurement and reimbursement changes.

CFO Matt McGrew said the company is planning for a $75 million to $100 million China diagnostics headwind next year, which he called “modest and manageable”.

Danaher said that demand from academic and government sectors was “anchoring and holding back” growth due to uncertainty around research funding.

The company forecasts annual adjusted profit per share of $7.70 to $7.80, compared to analysts’ estimate of $7.70, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Adjusted profit for the quarter came in at $1.89 per share, beating estimates of $1.72 apiece.

Third-quarter sales came in at $6.05 billion, surpassing analysts’ estimates of $6.01 billion.

(Reporting by Padmanabhan Ananthan in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)