Niche products add to their appeal

Article Excerpt

DANAHER CORP. $87 (New York symbol DHR; Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 694.7 million; Market cap: $60.4 billion; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; Dividend yield: 0.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.danaher.com) makes precision testing equipment and tools. Major customers include medical research labs, dentists and municipal water utilities. In July 2016, Danaher combined its Test & Measurement business with its Industrial Technologies operations and spun off that firm as Fortive (see right). Danaher investors received one share of Fortive for every two DHR shares they held. Danaher tends to fuel its growth with acquisitions. For example, in late 2016, it paid $4.0 billion for Cepheid, a maker of DNA-testing equipment. With those new operations, revenue rose 44.0%, from $11.7 billion in 2012 to $16.9 billion in 2016. Those acquisitions have proven successful: Danaher’s earnings rose from $1.98 a share (or a total of $1.4 billion) in 2012 to $3.08 a share (or $2.2 billion) in 2016. As of June 30, 2017, the company’s long-term debt was…