What happened
Shares of Becton, Dickinson (BDX 0.46%) were up by more than 6% as of 12:15 p.m. ET Monday, after having climbed by as much as 8.5% shortly after 10 a.m. The medical equipment company announced Friday after the markets closed that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had given 510(k) clearance to its new BD Alaris Infusion System with enhanced cybersecurity. The healthcare stock is up more than 10% so far this year.
So what
The new BD Alaris Infusion System is a modular system that includes updated hardware features for large volume pumps, syringe pumps, patient-controlled analgesia (pain-relieving) pumps, along with new software for respiratory monitoring, auto identification, dose error reduction, and electric medical records (EMR) interoperability.
The FDA's decision was a big one, as the old version of Alaris had several recalls. This clearance will allow Becton, Dickinson to begin distributing the system again and remediate or replace older versions of the device that are still being used.
The company filed the new submission with the FDA in 2021 after making changes to the pump following a series of safety recalls due to malfunctions.
Now what
The news was enough for analysts at two firms to upgrade their positions on the stock. Raymond James Financial upgraded Becton to outperform (buy) and set a price target of $305 on the stock, while Piper Sandler boosted its price target from $295 to $305.
Becton Dickinson is a Dividend King that has raised its payouts annually for 51 consecutive years. Management said in the second quarter that it expects to launch 100 new products by 2025. Its second-quarter revenue rose by 1.5% year over year to $4.82 billion, and net income rose by 2.2% to $840 million.
