Danaher Gears Up to Post Q3 Earnings: What Lies Ahead for the Stock?

Danaher Corporation DHR is scheduled to release third-quarter 2025 results on Oct. 21, before market open.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is pegged at $6.00 billion, which indicates an increase of 3.4% from the year-ago quarter’s figure. The consensus mark for earnings is pinned at $1.72 per share, which has remained steady in the past 30 days. The estimate indicates an increase of 0.6% from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter. The company’s bottom line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the preceding four quarters while missing the mark in one, the average beat being 8.5%.

Let’s see how things have shaped up for Danaher this earnings season.

Key Factors and Estimates for Q3

Persistent softness in Danaher’s protein consumables, flow cytometry and lab automation solutions businesses, due to lower demand across academic and government end markets, is likely to have hurt the Life Sciences segment’s revenues in the third quarter. Also, sales decline in the filtration business due to soft demand in the energy-related end market is likely to have impacted the segment’s performance. Despite this, solid momentum in the microscopy business, driven by increased demand for equipment in the confocal product line, is likely to have boosted the performance of DHR’s segment in the quarter. We expect the segment’s revenues to increase 2.5% from the year-ago quarter to $1.83 billion.

DHR has been witnessing escalating cost of sales and SG&A expenses, which are likely to weigh on its bottom-line results. For the quarter under review, we anticipate Danaher’s cost of sales to rise 5.8% year over year to $2.54 billion. SG&A expenses are expected to be $1.53 billion, indicating a 7.7% increase from the year-earlier level.

The company has considerable exposure to overseas markets. Given its substantial international operations, foreign currency headwinds are likely to have marred its profitability.

However, strength in the bioprocessing business, driven by an increase in demand for consumables from large pharmaceutical customers in Western Europe, is expected to have aided the Biotechnology segment. The segment’s performance is also likely to have benefited from solid demand from pharmaceutical customers for monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). We expect the segment’s revenues to increase 8.9% from the year-ago quarter to $1.80 billion.

Solid momentum in the clinical diagnostics businesses, driven by growth in the Beckman Colter Diagnostics unit, is expected to drive the Diagnostics segment’s results. We expect the segment’s revenues to increase 0.4% from the year-ago quarter to $2.37 billion.

Danaher acquired Abcam plc, a global supplier of protein consumables, in December 2023, which expanded the Life Sciences segment. Abcam's long track record of innovation, outstanding product quality and breadth of antibody portfolio are expected to have helped the company solve some pertinent healthcare challenges.

Earnings Whispers

Our proven model does not conclusively predict an earnings beat for DHR this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat, which is not the case here, as elaborated below.

Earnings ESP: DHR has an Earnings ESP of -0.39% as the Most Accurate Estimate is pegged at $1.71 per share, which is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.72. You can uncover the best stocks before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: DHR presently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell). 

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Stocks to Consider

Here are some companies within the broader Medical sector, which according to our model, have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings in this reporting cycle.

CVS Health Corporation CVS has an Earnings ESP of +0.28% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. The company is slated to release third-quarter 2025 results on Oct. 29.

CVS Health’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 22.6%.

Teladoc Health, Inc. TDOC has an Earnings ESP of +11.24% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. The company is scheduled to release third-quarter 2025 results on Oct. 29.

Teladoc’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the preceding four quarters, the average surprise being 18.3%.

Medpace Holdings, Inc. MEDP has an Earnings ESP of +4.31% and a Zacks Rank of 3 at present. The company is slated to release third-quarter 2025 results on Oct. 22.

Medpace’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 13.9%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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