BCR: Steady Second-Quarter Results, Outlook Improving

Analysts at William Blair & Co maintain their "market perform" rating on CR Bard Inc BCR. According to William Blair & Co, “C.R. Bard reported second-quarter revenue of $674 million (up 8% reported and 7% constant currency), which were spot on our target.” “With new products from last quarter’s FlowCardia acquisition augmenting an excellent existing offering and, in our view, one of the best peripheral salesforces in the market, we believe this segment of the business will deliver double-digit growth over the next 12 months before encountering difficult comparisons in the back half of next year. While the peripheral market has historically held up well during economic downturns, we remain cautious about the possibility of a volume slowdown, as these cases are somewhat deferrable. The acquisition of SenoRx (closed in early July) represents, in our opinion, a smart strategic move for the company and should bolster its fast-growing biopsy product line,” the analysts mention. “Surgical specialty results were again strong (we estimate $85 million, up 22% reported) and beat our target by $5 million, as the company’s soft tissue products, specifically biologics and anchors, continue to gain market share…Oncology sales ($178.3 million, up 7% reported and 5% cc) were spot on our target. Sales of ports were up a solid 9% (cc) during the quarter. PICC revenue of $72 million was in line with our target, but we will need to reign in our expectations on the company’s new 3CG product, as management does not believe that it will gain significant traction until it receives a label allowing the company to promote is ability to eliminate the need for a confirmatory X-ray when placing the device,” William Blair adds. More Analyst Ratings here