BD forecasts full-year profit below estimates on China headwinds (updated)
09/11/2023 16:21
(Recasts paragraphs 1 to 6 to include share movement, analyst
and conference call comments)
By Christy Santhosh
Nov 9 (Reuters) - Becton Dickinson BDX.N forecast
current-year profit below Wall Street estimates on Thursday,
citing weakness in China, sending the medical equipment maker's
shares down about 9%.
BD manufactures and distributes medical and surgical
products such as needles, syringes and sharps disposal units.
The company said the largest headwind it anticipates is
from China, where market softness is expected to predominantly
impact its drug delivery device business.
The New Jersey-based company now expects an adjusted
profit of $12.70 to $13.00 per share for fiscal 2024, compared
with analysts' average expectation of $13.50, according to LSEG
data.
"While we've been saying FY24 numbers needed to move
lower, we don't think investors were expecting a sub-$13.00
guide," J.P. Morgan analyst Robbie Marcus said.
The company said its profit forecast also includes
impact from the divestiture of its surgical instrumentation
platform that was sold to Steris STE.N in June.
BD also narrowly missed quarterly profit expectations.
This is in contrast to that of peers Abbott Laboratories ABT.N
and Boston Scientific BSX.N .
On an adjusted basis, BD reported a profit of $3.42 per
share in the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to analysts'
estimate of $3.43 per share.
The company, however, reported a 6.8% rise in quarterly
revenue to $5.09 billion, marginally ahead of analysts' average
estimate of $5.02 billion.
BD's largest unit, which makes devices to administer
drugs, reported a 7.5% rise in sales to $2.55 billion, largely
in line with estimate.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju
Samuel)
((Christy.Santhosh@thomsonreuters.com;))