Is it Time to Buy Danaher Corp?

Unfortunately, Danaher Corp unveiled a second-quarter set of results that only sought to prove how choppy the global economic recovery has been. Its earnings were mixed, with its life science operations notably outperforming other industrial areas -- in common with what Pall Corporation  has been reporting. Moreover, the two principal areas of weakness should sound a note of caution to other investors.


Danaher Corp. saw weakness in its communications results -- test and measurement segment. This doesn't bode well for Agilent Technologies. Also, dental consumables sales disappointed; they looked more promising in the previous quarter. This isn't a good sign for dental distributor Patterson Companies, Inc..


Danaher Corp. disappointsGoing into the second quarter, investors had some cause for optimism. After all, in the first quarter, the company had recorded core revenue growth of 3.5% -- at the high end of its full-year forecast of 2%-4% core revenue growth. However, the second quarter saw core revenue growth slow to 3%.
In addition, Danaher Corp. saw margin growth held back by some setbacks in its communications and dental consumables businesses. Readers can see how this affected profit growth in the following chart.

Source: Danaher Corp. Presentations

In fact, the issues spoiled Danaher's otherwise excellent record of segmental operating margin expansion.


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Pall Corp Earnings Research

Filtration and separation company Pall Corporation is not often discussed by the investment community, but that doesn't mean that Fools should ignore it. On the contrary, it's one of the most interesting stocks in the industrial sector, as its outlook usually contains a useful read across many industries. In addition, it competes with the units of some giant conglomerates, such as General Electric and 3M Company, as well as smaller companies like Donaldson Company, Inc.   and Entegris, Inc.  , so its commentary is relevant to them as well.

Pall Corporation's recent second-quarter results
The company's sales were evenly split between life sciences and industrial segments in 2013. The two segments provide Pall Corporation with a nice mix of health care stability and cyclical industrial growth, while its razor-and-blade model means that it can generate long-term sales from consumables (87% of its sales in 2013) provided it expands its installed systems sales.

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