Boosted by a $143 million jump in sales for its BD Medical segment, along with smaller rises for its diagnostics and biosciences segments, first-quarter revenues jumped 11.6 percent over year-ago levels at Becton, Dickinson and Co. (NYSE:BDX) during the three months ended Dec. 31, 2009.
Growth was strongest in sales of medical surgical systems, which climbed nearly $80 million, or 16.6 percent, to $560 million. Pharmaceutical systems and diabetes care also posted double-digit percentage gains within the medical segment during the quarter.
Overall revenues topped $1.9 billion, up from the $1.7 billion in sales reported during the October to December 2008 period for the Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based device and diagnostics conglomerate. Significantly higher sales did not result in a similarly sized jump in profits, however, with first-quarter net income coming in at $316.4 million — marking only a $4.3 million, or 1.4 percent, increase over the first quarter of fiscal 2009.
Along with announcing its latest quarterly results, BD executives said Jan. 28 they anticipate reported revenues to rise about 7 percent, or 6 percent on a foreign currency-neutral basis, during the full 2010 fiscal period ending in September. That works out to a $500 million increase over the $7.1 billion in revenues reported during fiscal 2009 as well as a $70 million bump over the company’s previous forecast of a 6 percent increase this year.
The company also raised its earnings guidance for fiscal 2010 and now expects adjusted earnings in a range between $5.05 to $5.15 per share, or as much as $50 million more than the $1.23 billion earned during fiscal 2009. The previous forecast anticipated an increase to the bottom line of $12 million to $37 million.
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