Becton Dickinson, and Company BDX lowered its fiscal year 2025 guidance and provided an estimated tariff impact on Thursday.
The medical device company reported adjusted earnings per share of $3.35, up from $3.17 a year ago. It beat the consensus of $3.28.
The company reported first-quarter 2025 sales of $5.27 billion, up 4.5% year-over-year, missing the consensus of $5.35 billion.
Becton Dickinson expects fiscal 2025 revenues of $21.8 billion and $21.9 billion. Its previously issued guidance of $21.7 billion to $21.9 billion reflects updated organic revenue growth guidance of 3.0% to 3.5% and an improvement in the estimated impact of foreign currency.
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Goldman Sachs on Friday downgraded Becton Dickinson from Buy to Neutral, revising its price target from $256 to $192.
Analyst David Roman says BDX stock has fallen 25% since being added to the Buy list on May 30, 2024, compared to the S&P500’s 6% and their large-cap MedTech coverage of 5%.
“We think the underperformance reflects downward revisions in organic growth estimates despite ongoing strong P&L results. Specifically, the forward outlook for organic revenue growth has shifted from ~5-6% two years ago to ~3-4%. This level of organic growth puts BD at the low-end of MedTech,” Roman added.
Goldman Sachs says because Becton Dickinson has a large share of its market, its growth is closely tied to how fast the overall market is growing. As the market has slowed, so have Becton Dickinson’s growth targets.
Some of these market challenges may ease over time. But Roman is less confident that Becton will return to steady mid-single-digit organic revenue growth by fiscal year 2026 — a key part of the investment case.
William Blair on Thursday downgraded Becton Dickinson to Market Perform following a disappointing fiscal second-quarter update.
“We have been wrong with our rating on this stock for several years, holding out hope that shares would see multiple expansion once the business found a new gear that resulted in more predictable revenue growth, margin expansion, and earnings growth,” analyst Andrew Brackmann writes.
William Blair writes that Becton, at its core, has the makeup to drive mid-single-digit revenue growth over an extended period.
However, that is not the case right now, making the near-term setup challenging— especially as the Bioscience and Diagnostics business is set to be separated but for which those businesses are seeing increased headwinds.
The analyst seeks greater confidence in a reacceleration in organic growth and looks to fiscal 2026 guidance and updates on the Bioscience and Diagnostics separation as key catalysts over the coming months.
Stifel maintains Becton Dickinson with a Buy, lowering the price target from $280 to $224.
Piper Sandler downgrades Becton Dickinson from Overweight to Neutral and lowers the price target from $260 to $185.
Price Action: BDX stock is down 1.36% at $167.24 at the last check Friday.
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