CORRECTED-Becton Dickinson cuts annual profit forecast to reflect sale of biosciences and diagnostics unit

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Medical device maker Becton Dickinson BDX.N cut its profit forecast for fiscal year 2026 on Monday, adjusting its outlook to account for the separation and sale of its biosciences and diagnostics unit to lab equipment manufacturer Waters WAT.N.

Becton now expects adjusted earnings per share of $12.35 to $12.65 in fiscal year 2026, lower than its prior forecast of $14.75 to $15.05.

Shares of the company fell nearly 5% in premarket trading.

The new guidance includes adjustments solely to reflect the corporate overhead migrating to Waters Corp, transition services income and expected benefit from the deal proceeds, the company said.

The transaction is expected to close on Monday, Becton and Waters said, with the lab equipment maker calling the addition to its business "transformative."

The deal was announced in July last year and will expand Waters' footprint in clinical and diagnostic applications.

"With the life sciences business separation now completed, we believe BD will have sharpened strategic focus on high-growth MedTech end markets. But its growth recovery back to mid-single-digits is yet to be proven out," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Shagun Singh.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, Becton reported adjusted earnings per share of $2.91, above analysts' estimates of $2.81, according to LSEG data.

Its quarterly revenue of $5.25 billion also beat estimates of $5.15 billion, but grew 1.6% from a year earlier driven by growth in the Connected Care business. Revenue from the advanced patient monitoring segment was up 5.5% at $1.13 billion, while revenue from Interventional, which provides surgical solutions, was up 5.8% at $1.33 billion.

Revenue from the company's life sciences business fell 8.3% during the quarter to $766 million. Excluding this segment, which is being taken over by Waters, Becton's revenue rose 3.5% to $4.49 billion.