Becton Dickinson lowers 2026 profit forecast, shares fall

By Sahil Pandey

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Medical device maker Becton Dickinson BDX.N lowered its annual profit forecast below Wall Street expectations, after the sale of its bioscience and diagnostics unit to Waters Corp WAT.N, sending its shares down about 4% on Monday.

The companies had signed a $17.5 billion deal in July last year, which had closed earlier in the day.

Becton now expects fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings per share of $12.35 to $12.65, down from its prior view of $14.75 to $15.05. Analysts had been expecting EPS of $14.72, according to LSEG data.

It also sees second-quarter adjusted profit to be between $2.72 and $2.82 per share, below estimates of $3.28 according to data compiled by LSEG.

The forecast clouded better-than-expected first-quarter profit and revenue.

"We continue to think it's unsurprising that this management team is choosing to stay overly conservative as it moves through the separation of Life Sciences and ongoing challenges from vaccines, China, and Alaris," said J.P. Morgan analyst Robbie Marcus.

Becton expects to have about 80% of its China portfolio be part of the volume-based procurement program for standardized healthcare products for the country's public hospital system by the end of fiscal 2026, with unit volumes remaining resilient amid price cuts.

The company also said tariffs pushed down both gross and operating margins in the quarter.

CEO Tom Polen said the Alaris infusion pump line fell year-on-year even as BD's market share neared 60%, with growth pressured amid the company's large multi-year upgrade wave tied to earlier fixes.

For the quarter ended December 31, BD's adjusted profit of $2.91 per share beat estimates of $2.81, while revenue of $5.25 billion also surpassed expectations of $5.15 billion.