Baxter narrows its focus

Article Excerpt

BAXTER INTERNATIONAL INC. $42 is a buy. The company (New York symbol BAX; Conservative Growth Portfolio; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 505.9 million; Market cap: $21.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.baxter.com) has agreed to sell its BioPharma division to private-equity firms Advent International and Warburg Pincus for $4.25 billion (or $3.4 billion after taxes). That business helps drugmakers manufacture their products. Separately, Baxter still plans to spin off its Renal Care and Acute Therapies (kidney care) businesses as one separate company in 2024. The remaining operations will focus on making specialized equipment for hospitals. That includes Hill-Rom Holdings Inc., which Baxter acquired in late 2021 for $10.5 billion. Hill-Rom makes intensive-care unit beds, operating tables, patient monitoring equipment and electronic diagnostic systems. Baxter is a buy. buy. …