Becton Dickinson & Co. (NYSE:BDX) beat Wall Street’s estimates for its 4th quarter of 2013 and handed out a couple of promotions during the company’s quarterly conference call with investors.
Tom Polen was promoted to group president of medical surgical systems & pre-analytical and pharmaceutical systems and Linda Tharby was named group president of biosciences and pre-analytical systems, investor relations representative Monique Dolecki said during the call.
Becton CEO Vincent Forlenza told investors during the call that the changes will "ensure our future success and continue the development of our senior leaders."
During the 4th quarter, BD posted profits of $91 million, or 46¢ per share, on sales of $ 2.1 billion for the 3 months ended Sept. 30, according to a regulatory filing. That’s a profit slide of 69% on sales growth of 6.8% compared with the same period last year. Adjusted earnings amounted to $1.54, beating Wall Street’s $1.42 consensus estimate.
Company officials said net income was impacted by a settlement payout of $341 million from the ongoing legal tussle with Retractable Technologies (NYSE:RVP), which amounts to $1.06 per share. BD just last month filed an appeal, hoping to overturn a $113.5 million legal loss to its long-time rival.
For the full year, the company posted profits of $1.3 billion, or $6.49 per share, on sales of $8.1 billion. That’s a profit gain of 10.5% on sales growth of 4.5% compared with fiscal 2012. Adjusted to exclude 1-time items, earnings per share were $5.81.
BD further noted that it spent $13 million in compliance with the medical device tax, which took about 4¢ off the company’s per-share earnings for Q4.
BD shares barely budged yesterday, closing at $107.06, 0.05% higher than its opening price.
