Danaher Lifts Full-Year Forecast on Biotech, Life Sciences Gains — Update

By Adriano Marchese

Danaher boosted the upper end of its full-year earnings guidance, following a first-quarter beat fueled by double-digit momentum in its Biotechnology and Life Sciences segments.

Shares of the diagnostics and life-sciences company ticked up 1.4% to $198.29 in premarket trading on Tuesday.

Danaher upgraded the top end of its expectations for adjusted earnings per share for 2026 to a new range of $8.35 to $8.55, compared with $8.35 to $8.50 previously. Analysts polled on FactSet expect $8.40 a share.

Danaher noted that core revenue is still expected to grow at a rate of 3% to 6% over the prior year.

For the first quarter, Danaher posted net income of $1.03 billion, or $1.45 a share, compared with $954 million, or $1.32 a share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Adjusted earnings were $2.06 a share. According to FactSet, analysts were expecting $1.94 a share.

Sales rose to $5.95 billion from $5.74 billion, just shy of analyst forecasts of $5.98 billion.

From its three core segments, Biotechnology sales rose 11.5%, while Life Sciences increased by 3.5%. Its Diagnostics unit's total sales declined 1.5%.

Chief Executive Rainer Blair said the company continued on a steady recovery path, with strength in bioprocessing and better-than-expected life sciences results largely offsetting a softer first-quarter respiratory season for its Cepheid unit.

Looking ahead to the second quarter, the company expects adjusted core revenue to rise by low-single-digit percent range.

Analysts have forecast $6.29 billion, up from $5.94 billion in the prior-year second quarter.

Earlier this year, Danaher struck a deal to acquire medical-device maker Masimo for nearly $10 billion. Upon closing, Masimo is expected to operate as a standalone company within Danaher's Diagnostics segment, alongside its other businesses Radiometer, Leica Biosystems, Cepheid and Beckman Coulter Diagnostics.

Write to Adriano Marchese at adriano.marchese@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 21, 2026 07:36 ET (11:36 GMT)