Bioprocessing expected to grow high single digits in 2026.
Danaher reported a strong finish to 2025 with Q4 sales of $6.8B and EPS of $2.23, slightly ahead of expectations. Management guided 2026 core revenue growth of 3%-6% and EPS of $8.35-$8.50, driven by continued recovery in bioprocessing (high single-digit consumables) and diagnostics, while life sciences remains mixed. No specific mentions of other companies were made during the call. Bioprocessing segment grew high single digits in Q4, with consumables strength and first equipment revenue growth in several quarters; 2026 outlook is for high single-digit bioprocessing growth.
Buzzberg readBioprocessing expected to grow high single digits in 2026.Danaher reported a strong finish to 2025 with Q4 sales of $6.8B and EPS of $2.23, slightly ahead of expectations. Management guided 2026 core revenue growth of 3%-6% and EPS of $8.35-$8.50, driven by continued recovery in bioprocessing (high single-digit consumables) and diagnostics, while life sciences remains mixed. No specific mentions of other companies were made during the call. Bioprocessing segment grew high single digits in Q4, with consumables strength and first equipment revenue growth in several quarters; 2026 outlook is for high single-digit bioprocessing growth.Read full analysisCollapse analysis
Danaher reported a strong finish to 2025 with Q4 sales of $6.8B and EPS of $2.23, slightly ahead of expectations. Management guided 2026 core revenue growth of 3%-6% and EPS of $8.35-$8.50, driven by continued recovery in bioprocessing (high single-digit consumables) and diagnostics, while life sciences remains mixed. No specific mentions of other companies were made during the call. Bioprocessing segment grew high single digits in Q4, with consumables strength and first equipment revenue growth in several quarters; 2026 outlook is for high single-digit bioprocessing growth.
Diagnostics grew 2% in Q4, led by mid-single digit clinical diagnostics outside China; respiratory revenue of ~$500M in Q4 exceeded expectations.
Life sciences was roughly flat; pharma end market improved but academic/government funding remained muted.
Full-year 2026 guidance: core revenue +3-6%, adjusted EPS $8.35-$8.50, with Q1 revenue up low single digits and operating margin ~28.5%.
Revenue$6.838B
+13% QoQ
EPS$2.23
+18% QoQ
Gross margin58%
reported
Op margin21.97%
reported
What changed this quarter
01
Guidance
Bioprocessing expected to grow high single digits in 2026.
Guidance tone
02
Guidance
Company guides 2026 core revenue growth of 3% to 6%.
Guidance tone
03
Guidance
2026 EPS guidance set at $8.35 to $8.50.
Guidance tone
04
Margins
Cost savings actions expected to drive ~100bps margin expansion.
Reported gross margin was 58%, reinforcing the quarter's better-than-guided profitability.
Demand
Demand
Bookings & conversion
Management guides 2026 core revenue growth of 3% to 6% and EPS of $8.35-$8.50, slightly above 2025 actuals, reflecting gradual recovery but not yet reaching historical high-single-digit growth; tone is cautiously optimistic with upside potential from bioprocessing and life sciences improvement.
Tone · Confident
Management expressed optimism about momentum across the portfolio, with improving end markets and a positive outlook for 2026, while acknowledging some uncertainties.
Supply-chain alpha
A1
Bioprocessing equipment orders have grown sequentially for three consecutive quarters but remain below historical levels, while U.S. reshoring greenfield investments are expected to provide incremental upside over time.
“Current momentum in our equipment order book and funnels is concentrated around shorter cycle projects, such as line additions and brownfield expansions, with U.S. reshoring-related greenfield investments expected to provide incremental up…”
Cepheid's respiratory revenue assumption for 2026 of ~$1.8B is based on a 'normal' respiratory season, with customers purchasing ahead of an active season in Q4 2025.
“We expect respiratory revenue of approximately $1.8 billion for the full year 2026. This assumes a normal respiratory season and that testing protocols...remain broadly consistent”
In China, bioprocessing activity levels continue to strengthen despite a large prior-year comp, and the biotech market is gaining momentum as companies monetize molecules through licensing and IPOs.
“The biotech market there in particular has found some new momentum here as they are able to monetize some of those molecules that they're developing there...through licenses, through going public”