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Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based Becton, Dickinson and Company (BDX) develops, manufactures, and sells medical supplies, devices, laboratory equipment, and diagnostic products. With a market cap of $68.5 billion, the company operates through BD Medical, BD Life Sciences, and BD Interventional segments.

The healthcare giant is expected to announce its first-quarter earnings on Thursday, Feb. 6. Ahead of the event analysts expect BDX to report a non-GAAP profit of $2.98 per share, up 11.2% from $2.68 per share reported in the year-ago quarter. Furthermore, the company has surpassed Wall Street’s bottom-line estimates in each of the past four quarters. Its adjusted EPS for the last reported quarter surged 11.4% year-over-year to $3.81, exceeding analysts' estimates by 1.1%.

For fiscal 2025, BDX is expected to deliver an adjusted EPS of $14.43, up 9.8% from $13.14 in fiscal 2024. While in fiscal 2026, its earnings are expected to grow 8.7% year-over-year to $15.69 per share.

BDX stock prices have dipped by marginal 20-basis points over the past 52 weeks slightly outpacing the Healthcare Select Sector SPDR Fund’s (XLV) 37-basis points decline while lagging behind the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 22.1% gains during the same time frame.

Despite crushing Wall Street’s topline and earnings expectations, Becton, Dickinson and Company’s stock prices plummeted 5.4% after the release of its fourth-quarter earnings on Nov. 7. Driven by robust 23.6% year-over-year growth in Medication Management Solutions’ revenues in the U.S. to $744 million, BDX’s overall revenues increased 6.9% to $5.4 billion. Meanwhile, due to a significant 13.7% reduction in the cost of products sold to $2.9 billion, BDX’s operating margins expanded by a massive 509 basis points to nearly 12%. This translated into a staggering 86.2% year-over-year growth in operating income to $650 million.

However, due to lower sales expectations in China and Bioscience and Pharma market dynamics, the company gave a modest full-year organic sales growth guidance of 4% to 4.5% which unsettled investor confidence.

Nonetheless, analysts remain strongly bullish on the company’s long-term prospects. The stock has a consensus “Strong Buy” rating overall. Out of the 17 analysts covering the BDX stock, 14 recommend “Strong Buy,” one advises “Moderate Buy,” and two suggest a “Hold” rating. Its mean price target of $275.87 indicates a 17% premium to current price levels.

On the date of publication, Aditya Sarawgi did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here. More news from Barchart

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