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Editorial Advisory Board

  • Professor Andrea M. Armani, University of Southern California
  • Ruti Ben-Shlomi, Ph.D., LightSolver
  • James Butler, Ph.D., Hamamatsu
  • Natalie Fardian-Melamed, Ph.D., Columbia University
  • Justin Sigley, Ph.D., AmeriCOM
  • Professor Birgit Stiller, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, and Leibniz University of Hannover
  • Professor Stephen Sweeney, University of Glasgow
  • Mohan Wang, Ph.D., University of Oxford
  • Professor Xuchen Wang, Harbin Engineering University
  • Professor Stefan Witte, Delft University of Technology

Why BD (BDX) Shares Are Falling Today

BDX Cover Image

What Happened?

Shares of medical technology company Becton, Dickinson and Company (NYSE: BDX) fell 4.2% in the morning session after RBC Capital initiated coverage on the company with a neutral 'Sector Perform' rating. 

The firm set a price target of $211. While the analyst pointed to long-term positives like margin expansion from the company's BD Excellence initiative, they remained cautious. Reasons cited for this guarded stance included a pending transaction and conservative initial guidance for fiscal year 2026, which suggested limited earnings growth until 2027. The firm also noted what it saw as better opportunities elsewhere in the medical technology sector. This neutral-to-cautious outlook from a new analyst likely disappointed investors hoping for a more bullish assessment, leading to the stock's decline.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy BD? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

What Is The Market Telling Us

BD’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 5 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful, although it might not be something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 6 months ago when the stock dropped 6.2% on the news that stocks gave back some of the gains from the previous day as the White House clarified the tariffs on imports from China would add up to 145%, while the baseline 10% tariffs remained in place for most countries. 

This added layer of uncertainty reminded investors that the global trade environment remained volatile, limiting the potential for sustained market gains. Also President Trump said he was willing to accept pain in the short term, and was aware his policies could cause a recession, but he remained more mindful of a more severe case of economic depression (higher unemployment and prolonged downturn). For investors, this suggested that the administration could prioritize long-term structural shifts over near-term economic stability, further increasing policy-driven risk in the markets.

BD is down 20.3% since the beginning of the year, and at $180.43 per share, it is trading 27.6% below its 52-week high of $249.08 from January 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of BD’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $805.19.

Do you want to know what moves the business you care about? Add them to your StockStory watchlist and every time a stock significantly moves, we provide you with a timely explanation straight to your inbox. It’s free and will only take you a second.

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