Thursday, September 11, 2014

Danaher Corporation Conference Call Review

Investors in Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR  ) saw the company deliver a disappointing set of second-quarter results that caused the stock to drop notably. In fact, as of today, it's pretty much flat on a six-month basis. In truth, the results weren't that bad: The midpoint of full-year generally accepted accounting principles earnings per share guidance was actually raised by a couple cents as management narrowed its guidance to $3.67-$3.72 from $3.60-$3.75.



However, the market obviously expected more, and certain elements of the company's performance surprised on the downside. Danaher reports out of five segments: industrial technologies, environmental (mainly water quality), dental, life sciences and diagnostics, and test and measurement. This kind of diversification normally means that the company is broadly exposed to the industrial economy, and management's commentary certainly reflected a moderately growing environment. With that said, here are five things management wants you to know about the quarter.

Weakness limited to two areas, profits and margins hit


First, Danaher's management was keen to point out that the weakness was limited to two specific areas. Communications revenue within its test and measurement segment was down at a "low double-digit" rate, which the company linked to delays in spending by wireless carriers. Indeed, rival Agilent (NYSE: A  ) also reported a 6% fall in its communications revenue. The other difficult area came in the dental segment, which recorded "weak consumable sales," possibly due to bad weather earlier in the year. Unfortunately, according to Danaher CEO Larry Culp, both products tend to be "high-margin variables", and their underperformance hit operating profits within the test and measurement and dental segments.


Source: Danaher Presentations



Second, the impact...


READ THE FULL ARTICLE LINKED HERE

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