Earnings Preview For Becton, Dickinson And Company (BDX, BAX, BCR)

Becton, Dickinson and Company BDX is expected to post its Q1 earnings results on Tuesday, April 26, after the markets close. Analysts are expecting earnings of $1.30 per share, slightly higher than $1.27 a year ago. BDX, based in New Jersey, is a global medical technology company engaged in the development, manufacture and sale of medical devices, instrument systems and reagents used by healthcare institutions, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, the pharmaceutical industry and the general public. BD's operations consist of three business segments: BD Medical, BD Diagnostics and BD Biosciences. On November 19, 2009, BD acquired 100% of the outstanding shares of HandyLab, a company that develops and manufactures molecular diagnostic assays and automation platforms. It is one of Fortune 500 companies, which currently numbers around 29,000 employees. Investors will be hoping BD can follow on the performance of its competitors Baxter BAX and C.R. Bard BCR, which surpassed market expectations last week. Strong results from BD's competitors signal a high demand for medical technology products and investors will be hoping a part of this demand had been captured by BD. On the positive side, BD's earnings per share is expected to rise 9.3% in the next quarter, with revenues increasing from $1.86 billion to $1.96 billion. This is still some way behind the industry average, however. Earnings per share for the industry as a whole is expected to go up 29% in the next quarter. BD's shares added 2.68% over the past five days to stand at $84.0 at the end of last week.