* Quarterly earnings of $0.77 per share miss views by 2
cents
* Quarterly sales fall to $4.42 billion
* Danaher sees 2012 earnings per share of $3.14 to $3.19
Oct 18 (Reuters) – Industrial and healthcare conglomerate
Danaher Corp reported lower-than-expected quarterly
results on Thursday and cut its forecast for the year, saying it
would spend more to restructure its operations.
Third-quarter net earnings rose 5 percent to $548.7 million,
or 77 cents per share, from $523.4 million, or 73 cents per
share, a year earlier.
The Washington-based maker of medical technology, dental
tools and water treatment equipment said sales had dipped to
$4.42 billion from $4.45 billion, largely because of currency
fluctuations. Sales were up in emerging markets, including
China, but fell in the United States and Western Europe.
Analysts on average had expected Danaher to earn 79 cents a
share on sales of $4.51 billion, according to Thomson Reuters
I/B/E/S.
Danaher’s environmental and industrial businesses posted
higher revenue. The company’s biggest segment, which supplies
equipment and software hospitals and medical labs, showed
slightly lower sales but sharply higher operating profits,
helped by cost cuts and fewer charges tied to last year’s
acquisition of Beckman Coulter.
More cost reductions are coming. Citing “macroeconomic
pressures,” Danaher said it would spend $120 million on
restructuring this year, $20 million more than it had previously
estimated. Most of those expenses will be incurred in the fourth
quarter.
Danaher’s estimate of fourth-quarter earnings between 80
cents and 85 cents a share was below analysts’ expectations of
88 cents.
The company cut its 2012 profit forecast by 5 cents to a
range of $3.14 to $3.19. Wall Street was looking for $3.23.
