Dive Brief:

• BD on Tuesday posted a 35.1% rise in first quarter earnings to $4.16 billion as the medical technology company made progress integrating its C.R. Bard acquisition and projected continued momentum over the rest of the year.
• Revenue in the quarter exceeded Wall Street expectations, with all three business divisions posting mid-single-digit growth after adjusting for foreign exchange fluctuations, the Franklin Lakes, New Jersey-based company said.
• BD reaffirmed its forecast for currency-neutral revenue growth in the range of 5% to 6% and adjusted earnings of $12.05 to $12.15 per share in fiscal 2019.

Dive Insight:

One analyst noted the results contained "few surprises," given BD preannounced several metrics. 

"Better performance in Surgery and Urology & Critical Care not able to fully offset weakness in Peripheral Intervention," noted RBC Capital Markets' Glenn Novarro.

BD sounded an upbeat note on its first-quarter performance, saying that one year after closing on the acquisition of C.R. Bard, the combined company is on track to cut costs and is focused on executing its strategy of driving revenue growth, sustained margin expansion and operating leverage.

BD bought Bard for $24 billion in 2017 to build on its offerings in medication management and infection prevention.

The company said it sees “significant” opportunity across the BD-Bard portfolio to drive further growth and is confident in its outlook for momentum to continue over the rest of the year.

In the first quarter ended Dec. 31, BD reported earnings per share of $2.05, compared with a loss of 76 cents in the prior year. Results in the latest quarter were boosted by a gain on the sale of its Advanced Bioprocessing business to Thermo Fisher in September.

On a currency-neutral basis, first-quarter revenue increased 5.2%. Reported revenue climbed 35.1%.

Across the company’s business units, the medical segment reported a 15.3% increase in revenue, to $2.14 billion, aided by the Bard acquisition and strength in medication management and pharmaceutical systems.

Revenue in the life sciences business rose 1% to $1.06 billion, supported by preanalytical systems growth. Interventional segment revenue of $970 million saw strength in surgery, urology and critical care offset by a tough comparison in peripheral intervention to the prior year, the company said.

Adjusted gross margin was 56.3% in the quarter, while adjusted operating margin was 24.5%, both representing increases over last year. The company also said it paid down $400 million in debt in the first quarter.

Shares of BD were down about 1% in early trading Tuesday at $244.65.