Fortive Posts Q4 EPS Beat, Sales Miss: Analysts Expect China To Remain A Headwind

Shares of Fortive Corp (NYSE:FTV) were climbing in early trading on Monday, despite the company reporting disappointing fourth-quarter revenues.

Here are some key analyst takeaways:

• RBC Capital Markets analyst Deane Dray reiterated a Sector Perform rating, while raising the price target from $77 to $80.
• Truist Securities analyst Jamie Cook maintained a Buy rating and price target of $90.

Check out other analyst stock ratings.

RBC Capital Markets: Fortive's adjusted cash earnings of $1.17 per share came in 6 cents higher than RBC's estimates, driven by a lower tax rate, Dray said in a note. Core earnings grew by 1.8% year-on-year, a tad above the estimate of 1.3%, he added.

The company expected China to remain a headwind and continue to pressure results through 2025, the analyst stated. The spinoff of Precision Technologies is expected to be completed early in the third quarter, earlier than the previously planned fourth quarter, he added.

Truist Securities: While earnings beat expectations, Fortive reported sales of $1.62 billion, missing the consensus of $1.629 billion, Cook said. Management guided to first-quarter adjusted earnings of 83 to 86 cents per share, below consensus of 91 cents per share, he added.

The company sees revenues of $1.48 billion to $1.51 billion, missing consensus of $1.565 billion, the analyst stated. "FTV introduced fiscal year 2025 guidance with adjusted EPS expected to be $4.00–$4.12 or $4.06 at the midpoint, below consensus at $4.13 with FX expected to be a ~$0.20 headwind," he further wrote.

Price Action: Shares of Fortive had risen by 1.85% to $80.55 at the time of publication on Monday.

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