Al Root

Danaher stock was falling after the company's earnings fell short of expectations -- a rarity.

Wednesday morning, the maker of tools and equipment for the biotechnology, life sciences, and diagnostic industries reported fourth-quarter earnings per share of $2.14 from sales of $6.5 billion. Wall Street was looking for $2.16 per share and $6.4 billion, respectively.

Looking ahead, Danaher projects a "low-single digits" decline in sales in the first quarter. For all of 2025, sales are expected to increase 3%.

Those figures imply first-quarter and full-year sales of about $5.6 billion and $24.6 billion, respectively. Wall Street was looking for about $5.9 billion in the first quarter and $24.6 billion for all of 2025.

The full-year guidance is in line, but it is implies sales making up ground lost in early-year declines.

Investors appear a little nervous. In premarket trading, Danaher shares were down 5.4% at $234.50. Futures on the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were a touch lower.

Danaher investors don't like misses, and their expectations tend to run high. The stock trades for about 31 times the earnings per share expected for 2025. The S&P 500 trades for closer to 22 times.

The company has beaten quarterly estimates by an average of almost 10% over the prior four quarterly reports. That would have meant fourth-quarter EPS of closer to $2.35 a share.

It's hard to predict what will happen to shares on Wednesday. Danaher's quarterly results haven't missed expectations in years, according to FactSet.

Coming into Wednesday trading, shares were up about 6% over the past 12 months, trailing behind he S&P 500 by about 17 percentage points.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

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January 29, 2025 08:56 ET (13:56 GMT)

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