Spinoff spotlight: Becton Dickinson & Co.

Article Excerpt

BECTON DICKINSON & CO. $237 is your #1 Spinoff Buy for 2022. The company (New York symbol BDX; Manufacturing sector; Shares outstanding: 285.1 million; Market cap: $67.6 billion; Dividend yield: 1.5%; Takeover Target Rating: Medium; www.bd.com) operates through three segments: Medical makes an array of devices for hospitals, doctors’ offices and other clients in health care; Life Sciences sells products for collecting and shipping specimens as well as equipment for detecting diseases; and Interventional makes stents, catheters, needles, incontinence devices, and surgical tools. On April 1, 2022, Becton completed the spinoff of its Diabetes Care business (part of the Medical segment) as a separate, publicly traded firm called embecta Corp. (Nasdaq symbol EMBC). Investors received one share of embecta for every five common shares of Becton they held. As part of the spinoff, embecta paid $1.44 billion to Becton. Becton is now using that cash to buy Parata Systems, a privately held firm that makes robotic equipment for pharmacies and hospitals. The company will pay $1.525…