C.R. Bard CEO: Nothing Blocking Path To 14% '09 EPS Growth
23 Luglio 2009 - 12:18AM
Dow Jones News
C.R. Bard Inc. (BCR) is no longer targeting double-digit sales
growth this year, but continues to believe it can achieve per-share
earnings growth of 14%, the company's top official said
Wednesday.
The medical-products company also issued guidance for the third
quarter during a conference call following its second-quarter
release.
Bard is now targeting sales growth, excluding the unfavorable
impact of foreign currency rates, of 6% to 7% this year, Timothy M.
Ring, Bard's chairman and chief executive, said on the call.
This means the pace of sales growth is expected to improve in
the second half of the year after 6% gains in both the first and
second quarters, excluding currency. Bard said in April, after the
first-quarter report showed unexpected pressure on sales from the
troubled economy, that its goal of posting double-digit earnings
growth could be at risk.
That proved correct, but tight controls on costs plus
expectations for less of a currency hit have thus far helped the
company guard its bottom-line aspirations.
"From a earnings point of view, we continue to see nothing in
our path to keep us from achieving 14% EPS growth for the year,"
Ring said.
Bard announced a restructuring and cost-cutting plan last April,
but Ring stressed on Wednesday that these were strategic moves long
in development, and that the company will not compromise the
business to achieve an earnings target.
"We continue to manage the business for the long term," Ring
said.
Shares of Bard were recently down 1.9% at $71.50 in after-hours
trading after slipping 2.3% during Wednesday's regular trading
session.
Also on Wednesday's call, Chief Financial Officer Todd C.
Schermerhorn said Bard is targeting 6%-to-8% sales growth in the
third quarter, excluding currency.
Bard forecast that per-share earnings will range between $1.25
and $1.29 in the current quarter, bracketing the average forecast
among analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
-By Jon Kamp, Dow Jones Newswires; 617-654-6728;
jon.kamp@dowjones.com