Photo: BD / company press archive
BD sold more medical supplies and devices in its latest quarter, but it expects a slower sales pace in the year ahead. The New Jersey company reported $5.274 billion in quarterly revenue, up 5.4%, while forecasting low-single-digit growth for fiscal 2027.
The results offer a view of spending on the equipment and consumables used across healthcare. BD makes products ranging from essential medical supplies to pharmacy systems and devices used in procedures. Its sales are growing, but the company is not forecasting another year at the latest quarter’s pace.
In its Thursday earnings release, Becton, Dickinson and Company reported fiscal fourth-quarter diluted earnings of $2.52 a share, compared with $1.20 a year earlier. Adjusted earnings, which exclude specified costs and gains, rose 27.3% to $4.15 a share from $3.26.
Procedures and drug-delivery systems lead growth
The interventional business, which includes devices used in medical procedures, increased sales 7.6% to $1.472 billion. BioPharma Systems revenue rose 6.5% to $748 million, while Medical Essentials grew 5.9% to $1.786 billion. Connected Care, which includes pharmacy automation and other systems, grew more slowly, at 1.6%, to $1.269 billion.
U.S. sales rose 4.3% to $3.204 billion. International revenue grew 7.0% to $2.070 billion. Excluding currency effects, total quarterly revenue grew 5.6%.
These results cover continuing operations. BD completed the separation of its former Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions business and its combination with Waters in February. The former business is treated as discontinued operations, and the prior-year figures were recast so the comparisons use the same basis.
A more cautious sales outlook
For fiscal 2027, BD forecast low-single-digit revenue growth both as reported and excluding currency effects. It expects adjusted diluted earnings of $13.10 to $13.30 a share, compared with $12.70 in fiscal 2026.
The adjusted forecast is not a forecast of reported profit. BD said it could not provide a reliable reconciliation to the comparable accounting measure because the timing and size of possible charges and gains were uncertain.
For the full fiscal year just ended, revenue reached $19.5 billion, up 4.9%. Cash from continuing operations rose 30% to $3.6 billion, and free cash flow, an adjusted measure after capital spending, increased 42.5% to $2.9 billion.
BD also repeated its previously announced plan to invest $19 billion in the United States over several years, including $3 billion for manufacturing expansion. That is a multi-year plan, not a new quarterly spending commitment. Any relief from future Section 232 tariffs remains subject to the final rules and agreed milestones.
The company was due to discuss the results and its assumptions on an 8 a.m. Eastern earnings call. For investors, the immediate question is whether stronger profit and cash generation can hold up while sales growth slows.
JBizNews Desk | Franklin Lakes, New Jersey
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