Danaher Q3 Profit Rises - Update

(RTTNews) - Danaher Corp. (DHR) Thursday reported higher third-quarter profit, as revenues grew about 5 percent from last year.

For the third quarter ended September 26, the company's net earnings increased to $680.6 million or $0.95 per share from $597 million or $0.84 per share in the previous year.

On average, 19 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.89 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Danaher said its recent-quarter result included $0.04 per share after-tax gain on divestiture of a product line and a $0.01 per share benefit from discrete tax items.

The maker of professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products, said its quarterly revenues grew 4.5 percent to $4.87 billion from $4.67 billion last year. Core revenues were up 3 percent. Wall Street expected revenues of $4.90 billion.

Looking ahead, for the fourth quarter, the company expects GAAP net earnings per share to be in the range of $1.00 to $1.04.

The earnings outlook includes about $0.13 per share of anticipated productivity charges that are partially offset by nearly $0.07 per share anticipated gain on sale of marketable securities.

Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $1.04 per share for the fourth quarter.

Thomas Joyce, Jr., president and chief executive officer stated, "As we plan for 2015, we remain mindful of the challenging macroeconomic outlook including the recently stronger dollar."

However, the firm believes its focus on high-impact growth investments and margin expansion, combined with a strong balance sheet and M&A capacity, will help it to finish 2014 well and drive long term results.

DHR closed Wednesday's trading at $71.98.