Medical Manufacturer Danaher Stock Falls Despite Impressive Financial Earnings The D.C.-based business rose in pre-market trading, but fell over the course of the day.
By Andrew Osterland •
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Danaher Corp. is firing on all cylinders.
The company, co-founded by brothers Mitchell and Steven Rales in 1984, morphed from a real estate investment trust into one of the most successful manufacturers of medical and scientific products on the planet.
The Washington D.C.-based company reported blowout financial results before the market opened today. It beat both earnings and revenue estimates by a good margin and raised its forecast of full-year results.
Investors were not impressed. While it rose in pre-market trading, Danaher's stock fell 3.54 percent on the day along with a large majority of other stocks on the Entrepreneur Index™. The index was down 1.95 percent today, with 50 of the 60 stocks on the index declining.
Danaher was not the only company to be punished after reporting great financials. Netflix absolutely crushed estimates yesterday but gave back most of the 5.3 percent-gain today. Adobe Systems Inc. (-3.31 percent) and Netflix (-4.93 percent), the two biggest gainers on the index in the last two successive days, were among the hardest hit technology stocks.
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Chip-maker NVIDIA was down 1.45 percent despite a Goldman Sachs analyst confirming his buy rating on the stock today. The analyst downgraded several other semiconductor makers including Entrepreneur Index™ member Analog Devices (-2.44 percent) because chip production is currently way above trend. Tech bellwethers Alphabet Inc. (-2.48 percent), Amazon.com (-3.33 percent) and Facebook (-2.82 percent) also fell on the day.
Some of the best corporate earnings results in years are being ignored by investors. More than 80 percent of the S&P 500 companies reporting third quarter results so far have beaten high estimates. Investors are apparently more concerned that this may be as good as it gets.
Rising interest rates, escalating trade wars, slowing growth in China and troubling geopolitical risks are all contributing to massive selling pressure in the market.
No sector of the economy is immune. Drug-makers Alexion Pharmaceuticals and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, which have held up relatively well in the last volatile week, were down 1.85 percent and 0.96 percent respectively.
Fedex, a good proxy for the U.S. economy was down 2.76 percent. Casino operator Wynn Resorts, down 32 percent so far this year, had one of the biggest declines on the day, falling 3.74 percent. Investors were also not heartened by the news yesterday that CEO Elon Musk was buying more Tesla shares. The stock was down 2.9 percent today. Ford Motor Co. was also down 2.85 percent.
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Gap Inc. posted the biggest decline on the index today falling 5.79 percent after a J.P. Morgan analyst downgraded the clothing maker to a sell. He suggested the company had operational issues that would hurt it in the all-important holiday season. It didn't help that President Trump's chief economic advisor Larry Kudlow called the Chinese "unfair and illegal traders" today, complaining that Chinese trade negotiators "had not responded to any of our asks." Gap sources more than 20 percent of its products from China.
High dividend paying REITs were one of the few areas of the market that fared marginally better today. Simon Property Group, Equity Residential, Essex Property Trust and SL Green Realty Corp. all posted small gains on the Entrepreneur Index™.
Other gains on the day included Chipotle Mexican Grill (0.44 percent), Extra Space Storage (0.36 percent), Universal Health Services (0.59 percent) and Tyson Foods (0.71 percent).
The biggest gain of the day goes to O'Reilly Auto Parts. A day after posting the biggest decline on the index, the parts manufacturer rose 1.1 percent today.
