BofA downgrades Becton Dickinson to Neutral on ‘inconsistent execution’

As previously reported, BofA downgraded Becton Dickinson (BDX) to Neutral from Buy with a price target of $190, down from $269, after fiscal Q2 organic growth of 0.9% missed the company’s original guidance of 2.75% and Becton lowered full year organic growth guidance to 3%-3.5% from 4%-4.5% previously. Execution has been inconsistent for several years, but this year was “supposed to be different with a more conservative guidance strategy,” the analyst says. However, execution still hasn’t improved and thus the firm can no longer defend the stock as “too cheap” and can no longer defend Becton Dickinson as a defensive stock, the analyst tells investors.