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BD (BDX) Gears Up for Q4 Earnings: What's in the Offing?

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Becton Dickinson and Company (BDX - Free Report) , popularly known as BD, is scheduled to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2022 results on Nov 10, before market open.

In the last-reported quarter, the company’s earnings of $2.66 per share surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 6.8%. Over the trailing four quarters, its earnings outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate on all occasions, delivering an earnings surprise of 11.9%, on average.

Let’s see how things have shaped up for BDX prior to this announcement:

Factors to Note

BD Life Sciences

On the fiscal 2022 third-quarter earnings call in August, BD confirmed that it continued to witness lower COVID-only testing revenues, which led to a decline in the company’s Life Sciences segment. However, excluding COVID-only testing, uptick in the Life Sciences segment’s base revenues was solid, with strong growth across both Integrated Diagnostic Solutions (IDS) and Biosciences, despite supply constraints and the impact of restrictions in China.

Strength in IDS reflected strong base business revenue growth, driven by continued adoption of BD’s broader respiratory panel and strong growth in In-Vitro Diagnostic assays, leveraging its increased BD MAX installed base. Continued demand for specimen management products with strong growth in BD’s durable COR products, aided by price management, also drove IBS base business, despite the decline in COVID-only testing revenues.

Further, continued robust demand for reagents, driven by BD’s antibody and dye strategy, along with continued adoption of its e-commerce platform, had driven Biosciences’ revenues in the fiscal third quarter. Performance in Biosciences also reflected strong instrument growth driven by newly-launched products and strategic procurement of critical components. These trends are likely to have continued in the fiscal fourth quarter as well on the back of sustained strength in base business and expected continued fall in COVID-only testing revenues, thereby significantly pushing up the segmental revenues.

In September, BD launched BD Research Cloud, a cloud-based software solution designed to streamline the flow cytometry workflow to enable higher quality experiments. The same month, BD and CerTest Biotec announced their newly developed molecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for the monkeypox virus — CerTest VIASURE Monkeypox molecular research use only (RUO) assay — is now commercially available worldwide, including the United States. The PCR assay is for RUO applications by laboratories. The company may provide an update on the launch progress of these new products on its earnings call.

In August, BD announced a worldwide commercial collaboration agreement with Accelerate Diagnostics, Inc. The same month, BD entered into a collaboration with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings or LabCorp. These strategic tie-ups are likely to have aided BD in the fiscal fourth quarter, thereby driving up revenues.

In June, the company announced its plans to unveil a new cell sorting technology — BD FACSDiscover S8 Cell Sorter. The same month, BD announced the receipt of the CE Mark for the BD MAX Respiratory Viral Panel — the new molecular diagnostic combination test for SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A + B and Respiratory Syncytial Virus from the company. Investors may ask questions on the potential launch timeline for these products on the earnings call.

BD’s U.S. launch of its new, fully automated, high-throughput infectious disease molecular diagnostics platform, BD COR MX instrument (in May), is likely to have boosted its fiscal fourth-quarter revenues. BD’s expansion of its strategic partnership with Babson Diagnostics to move blood sample collection into new care settings (in May) is another notable development.

However, the continued decline in COVID-only testing revenues is likely to have weighed on BD’s Life Sciences segmental revenues in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022.

BD Interventional

This segment witnessed a strong worldwide performance in advanced repair and reconstruction, driven by the continued strong market adoption of Phasix hernia resorbable scaffold and the revenue contribution from the Tepha acquisition during the fiscal third quarter. Biosurgery also performed well during the last-reported quarter. Revenues in Peripheral Intervention were also strong, reflecting competitive gains driven by Venovo's return to the market, continued global penetration of Rotarex and the acquisition of Venclose expanding BD’s focus across chronic disease settings. These trends are likely to have pushed up segmental revenues in the fiscal fourth quarter.

Robust Urology and Critical Care revenues were driven by continued strong demand for its PureWick chronic female incontinence platform in acute care and alternative care settings. This is likely to have also contributed to segmental revenues in the to-be-reported quarter.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal fourth-quarter BD Interventional revenues is pegged at $1.15 billion, suggesting an improvement of 7.1% from the year-ago quarter’s reported figure.

Other Aspects

BD is likely to have witnessed continued momentum in its Medical segment, attributable to strong demand for the company’s durable core products, driven by competitive gains in catheters and vascular care devices.

In September, BD launched a next-generation glass prefillable syringe — BD Effivax Glass Prefillable Syringe — which holds promise.

However, the current unstable macroeconomic business environment, resulting from the supply-chain constraints and inflationary pressures, is likely to have weighed on the company’s fiscal fourth-quarter revenues, thereby raising our apprehension.

The Estimate Picture

For fourth-quarter fiscal 2022, the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $4.71 billion for total revenues implies a decline of 8.2% from the prior-year quarter’s reported figure.

The consensus estimate for earnings per share is pegged at $2.73, indicating an improvement of 5.4% from the prior-year period’s reported number.

What Our Model Suggests

Per our proven model, a stock with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold), along with a positive Earnings ESP, has higher chances of beating estimates. However, this is not the case here as you can see:

Earnings ESP: BD has an Earnings ESP of -0.51%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3.

Stocks Worth a Look

Here are a few medical stocks worth considering, as these have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings this reporting cycle:

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CYCC - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +20.00% and a Zacks Rank of 1. CYCC has an estimated growth rate of 5.6% for 2022.

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals’ earnings surpassed estimates in all the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 28.9%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has an Earnings ESP of +8.16% and is a Zacks #2 Rank stock. AVEO has an estimated growth rate of 53.4% for 2022.

AVEO Pharmaceuticals’ earnings surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the same in one, with the average surprise being 13.1%.

GoodRx Holdings, Inc. (GDRX - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +21.62% and carries a Zacks Rank of 2 at present. GDRX has an estimated long-term growth rate of 16.4%.

GoodRx’s earnings surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed the same in one, with the average surprise being 19.4%.

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