Baxter (NYSE:BAX) may not have the sex appeal of a saucy biotech like Genentech (NYSE:DNA), but there's nothing wrong with a solidly profitable business that throws off good cash flow. Provided, of course, that you can buy that business at a suitably appealing price.
Results in Baxter's first quarter were a lot more about better blocking and tackling than any especially robust growth news. Total reported revenue rose 1%, but that moves to 4% if you exclude the negative impact of foreign currency, and to 7% if you exclude the Colleague pump and Taiwan renal-care business from the comparisons. While the biosciences business saw revenue grow at a double-digit clip (11% reported, 15% without currency) with a much larger contribution from antibody therapy, the medication-delivery and renal businesses both saw declines in reported revenue.
The margin side impressed me, though. Gross margins moved up three full points, and operating income increased 10%, as nearly half that gross margin improvement managed to make it down to the operating line. On a more bottom-line basis, earnings from continuing operations were up 26%, and operating cash flow climbed 12%.
I took particular note of two talking points from this quarter. First, the company will be making avian flu vaccine for Britain, and there's no telling what such vaccines could ultimately be worth to health-care companies like Baxter. I also took note of an authorized generic agreement with Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) for an antibiotic. Baxter hasn't really done generics yet in a big way, but this could be another incremental growth opportunity within the intravenous drug business.
Last and not least, the company continues to work with the FDA on the matter of the Colleague pump recall. I don't expect a speedy resolution -- the FDA doesn't seem to do anything quickly anymore -- but the company continues to build its inventory of these pumps. That's hardly a sign of long-term doom in my book.
While Abbott Labs (NYSE:ABT) and Baxter are in very different businesses, I nevertheless have the same general opinion about both: They're good companies, but they have to be bought cheap. At today's prices, I'd lean more toward Abbott than Baxter.
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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).
