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Becton, Dickinson Takes Over Caesarea Medical Electronics

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Leading global medical technology company, Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX - Free Report) , popularly known as BD, recently announced that it has acquired Caesarea Medical Electronics. Caesarea Medical is an Israel-based company focused on the manufacturing of infusion pump systems.

Stock Performance

In the last three months, the price performance of BD was encouraging. The stock added 11.06% comparing favorably with the Zacks classified Medical/Dental Supplies sub-industry’s gain of 7.31%. Also, the stock performance compares favorably with the S&P 500’s return of 4.24% over the same time frame. Added to this, a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 9.94% instills confidence in investors.

Despite the bullish price trend, estimate revision for the stock has been quite disappointing. The full year has seen 10 estimates move south over the last two months, compared with no movement in the opposite direction. As a result, the stock dropped a nominal 1% to $9.42 over the same time frame. These mixed sentiments justify the stock’s Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).



 

Buyout Details

Coming back to the news, we feel the acquisition of Caesarea Medical’s expands BD's infusion portfolio to include ambulatory, home and specialty acute care infusion pumps. This is because Caesarea Medical designs, manufactures and markets a range of infusion and syringe pumps as well as related accessories and disposable administration sets for both homecare and hospital settings. Its infusion pumps holds a leading position in markets for specialty applications such as IV and epidural anesthesia and pain management, hospital and home nutrition.

Based in Franklin Lakes, NJ, Becton, Dickinson is a medical technology company engaged principally in the development, manufacture and sale of medical devices, instrument systems and reagents.

Going forward, BD’s focus on product launches is a significant catalyst in our view. Additionally, its expansion plans, especially in the emerging overseas markets, and the acquisition-driven strategy hold considerable promise.

On the flipside, lower demand for healthcare products, intensifying competition, significant exposure to foreign exchange volatility and higher debt levels pose major headwinds.

Key Picks

Better-ranked stocks in the broader medical sector include Inogen Inc. (INGN - Free Report) , IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (IDXX - Free Report) and Fluidigm Corporation . Notably, Inogen and IDEXX Laboratories sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) while Fluidigm carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Inogen has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 17.50%. Notably, the stock registered an impressive one-year return of 70.6%.

IDEXX Laboratories has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 15.04%. Additionally, the stock returned an impressive 97.5% in the last one year.

Fluidigm has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 25%. The stock delivered a positive earnings surprise of 1.6% last quarter.
 

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