(Reuters) – Becton Dickinson beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit on Thursday, helped by strong demand for its drug delivery devices and surgical equipment.
One of the world’s largest manufacturers and distributors of medical and surgical products such as needles, syringes and sharps disposal units is the latest company to benefit from an ongoing recovery in demand for non-urgent surgical procedures.
Becton’s largest unit, which makes devices to administer drugs, reported an 11.1% rise in sales to $2.43 billion in the quarter ended June 30.
Analysts on average estimated $2.35 billion sales from the segment, according to Refinitiv data.
The company’s interventional unit, through which it offers surgical and critical care devices, recorded quarterly sales worth $1.22 billion, beating estimates of $1.20 billion.
Peer Abbott Laboratories and healthcare conglomerate Johnson & Johnson, which has a medical device unit, also topped estimates as more patients underwent surgeries such as orthopedics and gastrointestinal, after the pandemic delayed the procedures and triggered healthcare worker shortages.
Becton’s revenue from the life sciences segment, which sells diagnostic devices, however, fell 6.3% from a year earlier to $1.23 billion, as demand for COVID-19 test kits slumped on declining infection rate and cases.
The New Jersey-based company’s overall quarterly sales rose 5.1% to $4.9 billion, ahead of analysts’ estimate of $4.84 billion.
Excluding special items, it reported profit of $2.96 per share in the quarter, topping expectations of $2.91 per share.
Becton now expects annual revenue of about $19.3 billion, compared with its prior forecast of $19.2 billion to $19.3 billion. This includes $56 million in year-to-date COVID-only diagnostic testing revenue.
(Reporting by Pratik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
