BD Q1 Net Income Plunges - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Medical technology firm Becton, Dickinson and Co.'s (BDX) first-quarter net profit plummeted to $271 million, from $625 million in the earlier year quarter, when the company recorded an income from discontinued operations of $355 million. However, income from continuing operations edged up by 0.4% to $271 million, from last year's $270 million.

For the first quarter, reported earnings per share from continuing operations were $1.37, compared with $1.35 a year ago, representing a 1.5 percent increase. On a foreign currency-neutral basis, earnings per share from continuing operations for the first quarter rose 8.1 percent.

Excluding the medical device excise tax, which went into effect in January 2013 under the U.S. healthcare reform law, quarterly adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations were $1.42. On average, 20 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of $1.30 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Quarterly revenues of $2.01 billion, were up 6.0 percent, from the prior-year period's $1.9 billion, or 6.7 percent on a foreign currency-neutral basis. The growth in revenue was partly aided by favorable timing of orders in the BD Medical and BD Diagnostics divisions. Seventeen analysts estimated revenues of $1.98 billion for the quarter.