Topic: How To Invest

Stock market picks: Overseas sales lift C.R. Bard’s results in 2010

C.R. Bard Inc. (symbol BCR on New York) makes medical devices in four main areas: urology products, such as vascular products, including stents and catheters (28% of 2010 sales); oncology products that detect and treat various types of cancer (27%); drainage and incontinence devices (26%); and surgical tools and other products (19%).

Bard is one of the stock market picks we analyze in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter.

In 2010, Bard’s sales rose 7.3%, to $2.7 billion from $2.5 billion in 2009. Earnings rose 10.7%, to $509.2 million from $460.1 million a year earlier. Earnings per share climbed 15.7% to $5.32 from $4.60, on fewer shares outstanding. If you exclude unusual items, such as merger costs, earnings per share would have risen 10.0%, to $5.60 from $5.09.

In 2010, the company bought California-based SenoRx Inc., which makes devices that help diagnose and treat breast cancer. This purchase should add $56 million to Bard’s annual revenue.

Bard gets nearly a third of its sales from overseas. The company is seeing rising demand for its medical devices, particularly in emerging markets. In the past year, sales of its vascular products rose 10.9%.

The company expects its 2011 sales to rise 5% to 8%, and earnings per share to climb 14%. The shares now trade at 12.5 times the $2.92 a share that the company expects to earn in 2011.

You can get our full analysis, including our updated buy/sell/hold on C.R. Bard and other U.S. stock market picks in an upcoming issue of Wall Street Stock Forecaster. What’s more, you can get one month free when you subscribe today. Click here to learn how.

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