** Shares of industrial equipment maker Fortive FTV.N fall 2.5% to $54 in premarket trading

** Mizuho downgrades co to "underperform" from "outperform"

** Cuts PT to $51 from $54; new PT represents a 8% downside on stock's last close

** Brokerage says it expects a slow start to '26 across more than half of FTV's portfolio (government, medical, retail/consumer) as funding delays and uncertainty persists

(Reporting by Parth Chandna)

((Parth.Chandna@thomsonreuters.com;))