Danaher Raises Profit Outlook as Core Growth Accelerates
The company lifted its full-year adjusted earnings forecast to $8.45 to $8.60 a share.
Danaher Corporation (DHR), the life-sciences and diagnostics company, reported second-quarter revenue of $6.265 billion, up 5.5% from a year earlier as growth accelerated from 3.5% in the first quarter and 4.5% in the final quarter of 2025.
The improvement extended beneath the headline. Core revenue rose 3.0%, compared with 0.5% in the first quarter, and increased 4.5% when respiratory testing was excluded. Respiratory-testing sales fell to about $250 million from roughly $500 million in the first quarter and $300 million a year earlier, reducing companywide core growth by 1.5 percentage points.
GAAP net earnings increased 57% to $870 million, while diluted earnings rose 60% to $1.23 a share. Adjusted earnings climbed 8.0% to $1.94 a share, slower than the first quarter’s 9.5% increase. Operating profit rose 48% and the GAAP operating margin widened to about 18.0%, helped by comparison with a year-earlier period that included a $432 million Life Sciences trade-name impairment.
Life Sciences led the segments with 5.5% core sales growth, its strongest quarterly performance in several years, according to the company. Biotechnology grew 2.5% despite customer project timing that held back bioprocessing revenue; underlying bioprocessing orders increased at a mid-teens rate. Diagnostics core sales rose 2.0%, or 5.0% excluding a three-percentage-point respiratory-testing drag.
Operating cash flow increased 14.5% to $1.534 billion, and free cash flow rose 15.5% to $1.265 billion. Cash conversion weakened, however, with free cash flow equal to 1.45 times net earnings, down from 1.97 times a year earlier.
Danaher now expects full-year core revenue growth of 3.0% to 4.0%, narrowing its previous 3% to 6% range by cutting the upper end. For the third quarter, it forecasts core growth of 2.0% to 3.0%, including flat Diagnostics sales; excluding an anticipated 2.5-point respiratory-testing drag, companywide core growth is projected at about 5.0%.
The company also disclosed plans to acquire StatLab, which generated about $250 million in 2025 revenue, more than 85% of it recurring. Danaher expects the transaction to close by year-end and add to adjusted earnings in its first full year. The deal would extend its acquisition activity after Masimo-related costs totaled $108 million pretax in the second quarter and pushed forecast 2026 intangible-asset amortization to about $1.9 billion.