A conglomerate is a large holding company that contains several independent and unrelated businesses. It’s important to look at the performance of conglomerates separately because different companies in them could be involved in different market sectors even though they are under one umbrella-like business, or group.
There is a wide variety of conglomerates today including manufacturing, media, and food. A media conglomerate may start out owning several newspapers before purchasing television and radio stations as well as book publishing companies.
Danaher Corporation (DHR)
Danaher Corporation designs, manufactures, and markets professional, medical, industrial, and commercial products and services worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Life Sciences, Diagnostics, and Environmental & Applied Solutions. The Life Sciences segment provides mass spectrometers; cellular analysis, lab automation, and centrifugation instruments; microscopes; and genomics consumables. This segment also offers bioprocess technologies, consumables, and services; and filtration, separation, and purification technologies to the pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical, food and beverage, medical, and life sciences companies, as well as universities, medical schools and research institutions, and various industrial manufacturers.
General Electric Company (GE)
General Electric Company operates as a high-tech industrial company worldwide. The company’s Power segment offers heavy-duty and aeroderivative gas turbines for utilities, independent power producers, and industrial applications; maintenance, service, and upgrade solutions to plant assets and their operational lifecycle; steam power technology for fossil and nuclear applications, including boilers, generators, steam turbines, and air quality control systems; and advanced reactor technologies solutions comprising reactors, fuels, and support services for boiling water reactors. This segment also applies the science and systems of power conversion to provide motors, generators, automation, and control equipment; and drives for energy intensive industries, such as marine, oil and gas, mining, rail, metals, test systems, and water.
Crane Co. (CR)
Crane Co. manufactures and sells engineered industrial products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, and internationally. The company’s Fluid Handling segment offers on/off valves and related products for the chemical, oil and gas, power, and general industrial end markets; valves and related products for the non-residential construction, general industrial, and municipal markets; fluid control instrumentation and sampling solutions; and pumps and related products for water and wastewater applications in industrial, municipal, commercial, and military markets.