Danaher Corp (DHR) exceeded third-quarter sales expectations, with a 3% year-over-year increase driven by a continued bioprocessing recovery. Despite the positive news, capital expenditures remain weak, and guidance for 2024 anticipates a decline in non-GAAP core revenue. Analysts are closely watching the fourth-quarter exit rate for bioprocessing and potential insights into 2025.
When policymakers deregulated the electricity industry, they made four mistakes that have had lasting consequences:
1. Focusing on market structure and operating savings instead of increasing capital expenditures and climate change.
2. Ignoring the cost of capital, which has increased due to competition and broken-up companies.
3. Ignoring transaction costs, the importance of contracts, and non-economic incentives, leading to gaming of the system.
4. Assuming that light-handed regulators could effectively oversee a complex industry, resulting in excess profits and higher consumer costs.
Goldman Sachs recommends investing in companies that allocate significant resources to capital expenditures (capex) and research and development (R&D). According to the bank, these companies have outperformed those focusing on shareholder returns through buybacks and dividends by 2 percentage points this year. Goldman highlights the positive economic outlook, citing rebounding global manufacturing data. Historically, investors have rewarded companies investing in growth during periods of economic acceleration.
