Cost savings push up its earnings

Article Excerpt

BECTON DICKINSON & CO. $254 (New York symbol BDX; Conservative Growth Portfolio; Consumer sector; Shares o/s: 269.7 million; Market cap: $68.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.0; Divd. yield: 1.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.bd.com) operates in three segments: Medical makes a broad array of devices for hospitals, doctors’ offices and other clients in the health-care industry; Life Sciences sells products for collecting and shipping specimens as well as equipment for detecting diseases; and Interventional makes stents, catheters, needles, drainage and incontinence devices, and surgical tools. On January 1, 2018, Becton completed its $25.0 billion cash-and-stock takeover of rival medical device maker C.R. Bard (old New York symbol BCR). Bard investors now own 15% of the combined company. Becton expects cost savings from the Bard acquisition to increase its earnings for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2019, to between $11.65 and $11.75 a share. That represents a 6.0% to 7.0% rise from a year earlier. The stock is up 14% since the purchase, but trades…