Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of precision industrial, scientific, and consumer instruments. The company was founded almost 50 years ago as a toolmaker. But in a series of acquisitions since then, it’s expanded into making microscopes, dental equipment and much more. That’s been great news for holders of Danaher stock.
The company’s fundamental strength has continued to the present. It’s met or beaten its last four quarterly earnings expectations. And as you can see, Danaher stock has had a great year.
But now that interest rates are finally on the rise, we should scrutinize even the strongest stocks. Investment U readers want to put Danaher stock under the microscope and look at it in fundamental detail. In the process, we’ll learn whether the stock still has room to gro… or whether its best days are behind it.
To find out, we ran Danaher stock through the Investment U Fundamental Factor Test. (As a reminder, our checklist looks at six key metrics to diagnose the financial health of a stock.)
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Earnings-per-Share (EPS) Growth: Danaher stock has positive earnings growth, clocking in at 42.11%. That’s not bad on its own, but it’s far below the industry average. These kinds of equipment companies tend to be quite earnings rich. The industry average is far above Danaher at 74.05% growth.
Price-to-Earnings (P/E): Danaher’s price-to-earnings ratio is just 24. That’s a little more than half of the average among its peers: 41.23. Danaher stock is certainly not overvalued in the industry.
Debt-to-Equity: Once again, Danaher comes in below its competitors here, and that’s a good thing. Its debt-to-equity ratio is just 53.17%. That’s a bit less than the average of its rivals – who have a collective 59.82% debt ratio.
Free Cash Flow per Share Growth: Unfortunately, when it comes to cash flow, Danaher shows the dreaded minus sign. It saw free cash flow per share drop over the last year, with a growth rate of -55.47%. Its peers have done much better, with an average growth rate of 10%.
Profit Margins: Danaher’s profit margin of 16.29% recently broke above the industry average. Its rivals have an average profit margin of 13.29%. That’s another good sign for Danaher stock.
Return on Equity: Unfortunately, Danaher ends our tests on a negative note. Its return on equity is a respectable 10.93%, but that’s lower than its competitors. They have an average return of 16.62%. We wanted to see overperformance here, and we didn’t get it.
The problem with Danaher stock isn’t that it’s in bad shape, per se. It’s just underperforming its rivals in some important fundamental factors.
Sure, the company has a low P/E, high profits and a low debt-to-equity ratio. Those are encouraging signs, of course. But when it comes to earnings, cash flow and return on equity, it can’t score a win against its competitors.
That means that it’s at risk of losing market share to more fundamentally high-performing peers.
For these reasons, Danaher stock has earned a grade of C.
Fundamental Factor Test Score
C: Hold With Caution (Meets only two key metrics)
Source:: Investment You
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