It's a special kind of health care investor who rolls up his or her sleeves and digs into the diagnostics, assay, and testing businesses. After all, you don't really get the sex appeal of medical device companies like Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) or NeuroMetrix (NASDAQ:NURO) or the considerable patent estates of drug companies like Novartis (NYSE:NVS) without that information.

Instead, it's a hard slog filled with competition. But in Beckman Coulter (NYSE:BEC), we have a leading company that's trying to switch up how it does business -- and hopefully improve results by doing so.

So far, so good, it would seem. Beckman didn't deliver a quarter that looks especially strong on first glance, but it did better than analysts expected. Revenue was down slightly (up slightly excluding currency), in part because of the company's changing business model. Beckman is moving toward a more operating lease-based system for its instruments, and while that should smooth out revenue in the long run, it changes the upfront recognition of revenue. On a brighter note, consumables were up nearly 9% -- though a fair chunk of that was from acquired business.

I wish Beckman had provided a cash flow statement with the release, because I think cash flow is an important part of the story here. I mean, it's all well and good to know that chemistry system sales were down about 3.5% and immunoassay sales were up 16%, but I'd really rather see that cash flow information.

Just looking at the recent trends in returns on assets and capital, I'd say it's about time the company did something. And we can hope that management will hit its goals for improving the cost structure, working-capital utilization, and free cash flow production. Of course, with competitors including Abbott Labs (NYSE:ABT), Roche, and the new Fisher (NYSE:FSH)-Thermo Electron (NYSE:TMO) combination, there isn't much room for a stumble.

It's not a bad strategy to buy market-leading firms when they're going through troubles that don't seem to be permanently impairing the business. And while Beckman isn't No. 1 across the board, it has leading positions in several important markets. That's worth something, as is the promise of better results down the line, but today's price seems to already be assuming most of that recovery.

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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).