Danaher raises 2026 profit outlook despite revenue miss

Third-quarter adjusted earnings beat estimates as respiratory test demand keeps fading

Danaher reported third-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.11 a share, $0.17 above estimates. Revenue came in at $6.55bn, short of the $6.62bn expected.

The company raised its full-year 2026 adjusted earnings guidance to a range of $8.57 to $8.62 a share, up from $8.45 to $8.60.

President and CEO Julie Sawyer Montgomery said accelerating core revenue growth, excluding respiratory products, combined with execution under the Danaher Business System, drove double-digit adjusted earnings growth in the quarter. For the fourth quarter, Danaher expects core revenue growth of about 3.0% year over year, including a roughly 150 basis point drag from respiratory revenue. Excluding that drag, growth would fall in a range of 4.0% to 5.0%.

The earnings beat and raised outlook come even as revenue missed expectations, with the respiratory headwind a reminder that diagnostics makers are still working through the fade of pandemic-era test volumes. Management's framing, that core growth is accelerating once respiratory is stripped out, points to strength building in the underlying life sciences and diagnostics tools business even as that one segment continues to distort the headline numbers. The size of the guidance raise, modest next to the scale of the earnings beat, suggests management is taking a measured view of how quickly that headwind will fade.