Dan Loeb Adjusts Healthcare Holdings: Danaher Stake Trimmed As Thermo Fisher Gains Favor

Dan Loeb‘s Third Point LLC, which has a varied mix of stock from across the sectors, did some major portfolio restructuring in the last quarter of 2024.

According to recent 13F filings, reflecting his holding as of Dec. 31, 2024, Loeb slashed a stake in the major Life Sciences Tools & Services company Danaher Corporation DHR to 1,900,000 from 1,950,000 shares in the third quarter of 2024, a decline of around 2.5%.

Notably, the investor has been cutting stake in Danaher in the last couple of quarters. Earlier, he held 2,050,000 shares as of second quarter of 2024 and 2,450,000 shares as of third quarter of 2023.

Instead, the investor acquired a stake in Danaher’s major peer Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc TMO, attaining 350,000 shares in the fourth quarter 2024.

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DHR Major Events:

• In January, the company reported weaker-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, with adjusted earnings per share of $2.14 missing the street view of $2.16 and sales of $6.54 billion (+2%), beating the analyst consensus estimate of $6.42 billion.
• Danaher expects its non-GAAP core revenue to decline by a low-single digit percentage year-over-year in the first quarter. However, it anticipates a 3% year-over-year increase in core revenue for the full year of 2025.
• Following the earnings release, several analysts cut the price forecast on the stock, with Barclays analyst Luke Sergott lowering the price forecast from $275 to $240 and Wells Fargo analyst Brandon Couillard curtailing the price target from $280 to $240 and both maintaining an Equal-Weight.
• This month, Danaher raised quarterly dividend per share from $0.27 to $0.32.

TMO Major Events:

• Last month, the company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $6.10, beating the street view of $5.94 and sales of $11.395 billion (+5% year over year) outpaced the analyst consensus estimate of $11.277 billion.
• Following the earnings release, several analysts raised the price forecast on the stock, with Morgan Stanley analyst Tejas Savant increasing the price target from $647 to $678 and Wells Fargo analyst Brandon Couillard upped the price forecast from $660 to $680.
• This month, Thermo Fisher Scientific raised its quarterly dividend from $0.39 to $0.43 per share.
• Thermo Fisher inked a 10-year VPPA with X-ELIO to enhance renewable energy access in pharmaceutical and healthcare supply chains through the Lorca solar project, set to launch in early 2026 with three industry partners.

Year to date, Danaher shares declined around 10% while Thermo Fisher rose 0.66%, both underperforming the iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF IYH, which gained about 5% over the same time frame.

Also, the companies top peers Agilent Technologies, Inc. A fell roughly 0.3% and IQVIA Holdings, Inc. IQV declined about 1.3% so far this year.

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