(Reuters) - Danaher on Tuesday beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit as strong demand for its diagnostic tests for respiratory diseases helped soften the blow from weaker sales at the healthcare conglomerate's life-sciences unit.
"Revenue in the third quarter came in ahead of our expectations, with Biotechnology performing as anticipated, and higher respiratory testing revenue more than offsetting slightly softer-than-anticipated demand in Life Sciences," Danaher CEO Rainer Blair said in a statement.
Rising interest rates squeezed funding needed for drug development programs, weighing on demand for contract research services offered by Danaher and rival Thermo Fisher.
On an adjusted basis, Danaher reported a profit per share of $2.02, beating analysts' expectations of $1.87.
Third-quarter sales of $6.87 billion also topped estimates of $6.63 billion.
Persons:
Rainer Blair, Danaher, Christy Santhosh, Krishna Chandra Eluri
Organizations:
Reuters, Biotechnology, Life Sciences, Washington D.C, Danaher, Fisher, Applied Solutions