Narrower focus will pay off for Baxter

Article Excerpt

Medical device maker Baxter International aims to improve shareholder value with new plan to simplify its operations. Under that plan, it’s selling its BioPharma Solutions business, whose products and services help drugmakers manufacture their products. Baxter also plans to spin off its Renal Care and Acute Therapies unit as a separate firm by July 2024. It makes kidney dialysis machines and related equipment. In all, these two businesses account for about 30% of Baxter’s revenue. The remaining operations will focus on making specialized equipment for hospitals. That includes Hill-Rom Holdings Inc., which Baxter acquired in late 2021 for $10.5 billion. Based in Chicago, Hill-Rom makes a variety of medical care devices and products, including intensive-care-unit beds, operating tables, patient monitoring equipment and electronic diagnostic systems. The stock is down 15% since Baxter announced the spinoff in early January 2023, mainly due to supply chain disruptions and elevated operating costs. Even so, we feel the company’s narrower focus will pay off for investors over…