Danaher (NYSE:DHR) shares gained today after the conglomerate shattered Wall Street’s 3rd-quarter earnings expectations and affirmed its outlook for the balance of 2013.
Washington-based Danaher reported profits of $597.0 million, or 84¢ per share, on sales of $4.67 billion for the 3 months ended Sept. 27. That’s a bottom-line gain of 8.8% on sales growth of 5.7% compared with Q3 2012.
Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share reached 91¢, well ahead of analysts’ 83¢ forecast.
"Our team has continued to execute well using the Danaher Business System to deliver solid core revenue growth, operating margin expansion and cash flow performance in the quarter. Our new product development and go-to-market investments are driving relative outperformance in many of our businesses. We believe our focus on accelerating our growth spending and our productivity and efficiency initiatives, combined with our optimism on the acquisition front, position us well for the balance of 2013 and beyond," president & CEO Lawrence Culp Jr. said in prepared remarks.
Danaher confirmed its prior guidance for the rest of the year, saying it still expects to log adjusted EPS of $3.37 to $3.42. Fourth-quarter adjusted EPS are slated to be between 91¢ and 96¢, according to a press release.
DHR shares rose 4.2% to $72.05 apiece as of about 11:20 a.m. today, after peaking at a 52-week high of $72.33.
