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Becton Dickinson Preliminary Fiscal Q1 Revenues Rise 26 Percent, Firm Raises Guidance

NEW YORK – Becton Dickinson on Tuesday said that preliminary fiscal first quarter 2021 revenues are expected to rise 26 percent year over year to $5.3 billion. On a currency-neutral basis, revenues are expected to increase 24 percent over the prior-year period.

The firm posted revenues of $4.2 billion in Q1 2020.

Analysts had estimated fiscal Q1 revenues of $4.69 billion.

The results were driven by strong demand for the firm's COVID-19 diagnostic tests and better-than-expected performance across all three of its business segments, BD said in a statement.

The Franklin Lakes, New Jersey company projects COVID-19 testing sales revenue of $865 million for the recently completed quarter, with $685 million from BD Veritor immunoassay test system sales. The remainder of the COVID-19 revenue was attributed to sales of BD Max COVID-19 tests and specimen collection and transport products.

Overall, "The base business was more resilient, reflecting the essential role of our healthcare products and solutions, and COVID-19 diagnostic revenues were higher than expected," Tom Polen, CEO and president of BD, said in a statement.

Specifically, in the recently completed quarter BD observed higher acuity of care as well as greater resiliency in both elective and routine procedure volume in the outpatient setting. Volumes benefited from practitioners working through their patient backlog during the quarter. The firm also said that customers stocked up on medical supplies in the quarter, and $100 million of revenues may be attributed to stocking and timing.

In the medical segment, BD expects worldwide revenues for the first quarter of $2.3 billion, an increase of 8 percent from the prior-year.

In the life sciences segment, BD expects worldwide revenues for the first quarter of $2.0 billion, an increase of 76 percent from the prior-year period. BD exited the quarter at a run-rate of about 10 million COVID-19 diagnostic tests per month and "remains on track to achieve its prior capacity expansion commitments," the firm said.

Within life sciences, integrated diagnostic solutions revenues more than doubled compared to the prior year, driven by COVID-19 diagnostic testing revenues. Biosciences revenues declined in the mid-single-digit percentage points compared to the prior year, which was better than the company's expectations, it said.

In the interventional segment, BD expects worldwide revenues for the first quarter of $1.1 billion, an increase of 6 percent from the prior-year period.

"We have entered fiscal 2021 with strong momentum and now expect to deliver fiscal 2021 revenues toward the high-end of our previously communicated guidance range and to be above our prior adjusted EPS guidance range," said Polen.

The firm had previously guided for revenue growth in the high single to low double-digit percentage points, with revenues for Veritor in particular between $1 billion and $1.5 billion for fiscal 2021.

During the first fiscal quarter, BD also repaid $265 million in debt.

In early morning trading on the Nasdaq, BD's stock was up about 3 percent to $265.13 per share.