Summary

  • Raymond James upgraded its rating on Becton Dickinson from ‘market perform’ to ‘outperform’ following a 6.9% surge in its stock price on July 24, 2023.
  • Raymond James believes that the company is poised for growth owing to its product refresh cycle.
  • BDX has a mean recommendation rating of 2 and the consensus mean price target on the stock is US$293.21.

Becton Dickinson and Company (NYSE: BDX) received a rating upgrade from Raymond James, after its share price surged 6.9% to US$283.12 on July 24, 2023. During early trade on Monday, Becton Dickinson’s share price reached a record high of US$287.32.

The uptick in share prices came as Becton Dickinson stated that its Alaris Infusion System received a 510(k) clearance from U.S. FDA. The clearance allows BDX to return to its commercial operations in a complete manner. The company had previously pulled out some of its Alaris pumps and had worked with FDA to resolve issues with medicine delivery.

Raymond James upgraded the company to an ‘outperform’ rating following the uptick in its price. The stock has a mean recommendation rating of 2 on a scale of one to five, as per data available on EODHD/Others.

BDX Price Chart; Image Source: BDX EODHD/Others

BDX closed at US$279.97 on Monday, July 25, 2023. The stock hit its 52-week high of US$269.06 on August 16, 2022.

Higher growth prospects behind the rating upgrade

Raymond James had previously maintained a ‘market perform’ rating on BDX. The renewal to ‘outperform’ rating came as the broker has faith in Becton Dickinson’s growth projections. The equity analyst stated that BDX’s has a “steady tailwind to growth” owing to its product refresh cycle.

Owing to these factors, Raymond James believes that BDX can drive revenue growth of around 6% and an EPS growth of around 12% over the next two years.

Meanwhile, Becton’s Q2 FY23 reports suggest a 1.5% increase in revenue to US$4.8 billion for the period. Revenue from base business rose 6% while diluted earnings per share grew by 19.5% over the previous corresponding period.

Becton expects fiscal year 2023 revenue to be in the range of US$19.2 billion to US$19.3 billion. It will release its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2023 on August 3, 2023.

Brokers raise price target on BDX

The consensus mean price target on the stock is US$293.21, which is 4.73% higher than its closing price on Monday. As per EODHD/Others, Jeffries and Stifel increased their price target on BDX, following the updates reported by the company on Friday.

Stifel Nicolaus and Jeffries have both raised the price target to US$325, the highest target among all brokers. Piper Sandler raised its price target on BDX to US$305 on July 23, 2023.

At the same time, Wells Fargo renewed its rating on BDX to ‘overweight’ and Piper Sandler upgraded its rating to ‘overweight’ on July 23, 2023. William Blair maintained an ‘outperform’ score on the stock after reviewing its rating on July 24, 2023.

Alternatively, Cowen and Company downgraded BDX to a ‘market perform’ rating on July 24, 2023, and held a price target of US$271 on the stock.

Image source: ©2023 Kalkine®; Data source: EODHD/Others

As per data available on EODHD/Others, eighteen analysts have covered the stock. Among these analysts, five have given the stock a ‘strong buy’ rating, eight have given it a ‘buy’ or ‘moderate buy’ rating and five have given it a ‘hold’ rating. None of the analysts have given it a ‘sell’ or ‘strong sell’ rating.