Danaher's second-quarter results exceed expectations, life sciences business performs strongly
It announced its second quarter 2026 financial report on July 21. Both revenue and profit exceeded market expectations, and it raised its full-year earnings per share guidance. However, affected by the delay in orders from biopharmaceutical business customers, the stock price fell 11.5% in late trading on Tuesday. The financial report shows that Danaher's second-quarter revenue reached US$6.3 billion, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%, higher than market expectations of US$6.1 billion; adjusted diluted earnings per share was US$1.94, a year-on-year increase of approximately 8%, exceeding analysts' expectations of US$1.84. Core revenue increased by 3% year-on-year. If revenue from the new crown respiratory testing business is excluded, the core growth rate reached 4.5%, an increase of 150 basis points from the first quarter. Net profit for the quarter was US$870 million, or US$1.23 per share, compared with US$555 million in the same period last year. Looking at business segments, the life sciences business performed the most outstandingly, with core revenue growing by 5.5%, the best quarterly performance in several years, benefiting from solid demand from large pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical customers and an improving biotechnology financing environment. The core revenue of the biotechnology segment increased by 2.5%, with the discovery and medical business achieving mid-single-digit growth; the core revenue of the diagnostics segment increased by 2%, and increased by 5% after excluding the respiratory business. CEO Rainer Blair said that the life sciences business achieved its strongest quarter in many years. Although customer project schedules affected bioprocessing business revenue, underlying order trends remained strong, with bioprocessing orders achieving mid-double-digit growth in the quarter. The company completed the acquisition of Masimo earlier than expected and is expected to have an immediate accretive effect on adjusted earnings per share. Danaher raised its full-year 2026 adjusted earnings per share guidance to $8.45-8.60 from the previous range of $8.35-8.55, maintaining its forecast for full-year core revenue growth of 3%-4%.