Becton Dickinson expects fiscal 2023 COVID test sales to drag

Becton Dickinson and Co

10/11/2022 15:43

By Leroy  Leo
       Nov 10 (Reuters) - Becton Dickinson and Co  BDX.N  on
Thursday forecast a sharp decline in COVID-19 test sales for
fiscal year 2023 as it expects the testing market to shrink next
year with infections dropping.
    The medical equipment maker forecast COVID testing sales to
be in the range of $125 million to $175 million for its current
fiscal year, compared with $511 million it generated a year
earlier.
    A fall in COVID cases has also led rivals such as Abbott
Laboratories  ABT.N  and Thermo Fisher Scientific  TMO.N  to
forecast lower sales of coronavirus test kits.
    Abbott, which sells the rapid antigen test BinaxNOW among
others, expects $500 million in COVID sales as the disease
becomes endemic, while Thermo Fisher expects $100 million per
quarter in the near future.
    "Since none of us exactly knows the course that COVID
infections are going to take going forward, it seems reasonable
and very prudent for Becton and other companies to guide
conservatively," Stifel analyst Rick Wise said in an interview.
    With the cases falling, however, the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration in September announced its plans to review only a
small number of emergency use authorization requests for COVID
tests, and ask companies to instead apply for a traditional
review. 
    BD, which starts its financial year from October unlike
others that follow calendar year, is the first large test maker
to give an outlook for next year.
 (Reporting by Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini
Ganguli)
 ((Leroy.Dsouza@thomsonreuters.com ; Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeroyLeo7;))