NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Becton Dickinson today said that its fiscal second-quarter revenues were up almost 4 percent year over year, helped along by a 5 percent increase in the BD Diagnostics segment.
The Franklin Lakes, NJ-based company reported revenues of $2.00 billion for the three months ended March 31, compared to $1.93 billion a year ago, and just beating the consensus Wall Street estimate of $1.99 billion. On a currency-neutral basis, revenues were up a little more than 4 percent, BD said.
The BD Diagnostics segment pulled in $658.9 million in revenues for the quarter, up from $630.0 million in the second quarter a year ago, as pre-analytical systems revenues increased to $330.0 million from $323.3 million, and diagnostic systems posted revenues of $328.9 million, up from $306.7 million.
The company said that growth in the segment was driven by new product sales and international expansion in the diagnostic systems unit.
BD Biosciences' revenues ticked up a fraction of 1 percent to $279.3 million from $277.8 million. The firm said that "solid" instrument placements in the US and a favorable timing of orders in advanced bioprocessing was offset partially by softness in Western Europe stemming from austerity measures, and the timing of government funding in Japan.
BD Medical, the company's largest segment, saw revenues increase 4 percent to $1.06 billion from $1.02 billion in the second quarter of 2012.
BD's profit in the quarter was $275.6 million, or $1.39 per share, compared to $291.0 million, or $1.39 per share, a year ago. On an adjusted basis, EPS was $1.44, surpassing the consensus analyst estimate of $1.35.
On the expense side, R&D costs increased 5 percent to $122.4 million from $116.8 million, and SG&A costs climbed 6 percent to $514.6 million from $487.7 million.
"We continued to deliver solid performance in the second quarter," BD Chairman, President, and CEO Vincent Forlenza said in a statement. "Our results for the first half of the year give us the confidence to raise guidance for fiscal year 2013."
On a currency-neutral basis, FY 2013 revenues are now expected to grow between 4.5 and 5 percent, up from a previous guidance of between 4 and 4.5 percent. Reported revenue growth guidance was maintained at between 3.5 to 4 percent.
The firm's guidance for diluted EPS was raised to a range of $5.72 to $5.75 from an earlier guidance of $5.69 to $5.72.
BD reiterated its plans to repurchase about $500 million of its stock during the fiscal year.
In Thursday morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, shares of BD were up 2 percent to $95.82.