Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) beat the consensus forecast on Wall Street today with its preliminary fiscal 2019 first quarter results and confirmed its outlook for the rest of fiscal 2019.
The Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based healthcare giant said it expects to post adjusted earnings per share of $2.70 on sales of $4.16 billion for the three months ended Dec. 31, 2018. Analysts on The Street were looking for adjusted EPS of $2.61 on sales of $4.11 billion.
The company chalked up the earnings gain to “the timing of certain tax items, as well as better-than-expected performance across all three segments.”
BD said the adjusted EPS gain amounted to 8.9%, or 14.9% on a constant-currency basis, with sales up 35.1% compared with fiscal Q1 2018, “primarily due to the acquisition of C. R. Bard.” Fiscal Q1 revenues were up 5.2% compared with the same period last year on a constant-currency basis that includes Bard sales, the company said.
For the full fiscal year, BD said it still expects to report adjusted EPS of $12.05 to $12.15, representing growth of roughly 10.0% compared with fiscal 2018. Full-year sales growth is still pegged at 8.5% to 9.5%, primarily due to the Bard buyout, or 5.0% to 6.0% in constant-currency terms.
BDX shares closed up 0.2% at $231.27 apiece yesterday.
