BTIG Initiates Coverage On Danaher Corporation

BTIG initiated its “top large-cap investment idea” and rated Danaher Corporation DHR a Buy with a $95 price target.

Analyst Dane Leone claimed that "Danaher is a well‐run company with a culture focused on driving shareholders returns." While the stock has recently underperformed, he thinks things are about to change with "additional M&A announcements" and a December analyst day that will "help buoy the share price heading into 2015."

Leone felt the stock is -7 percent undervalued compared to peer companies.

In addition to being undervalued, Leone reported that concerns "regarding capital deployment is overdone, and M&A could become a positive catalyst in 2015, DHR management has indicated that the company" has over $8 billion in M&A capacity.

The $95 target price "assigns a Fair Value multiple of ~12x EV to our 2016 EBITDA estimate, or ~1.4x on an 2016 EBITDA‐ to‐Growth ratio basis (EBITDAg)."

Danaher Corporation closed at $74.43 on Thursday, down 0.20 percent.