Becton, Dickinson 2Q earnings rise 14 percent

Net income for the quarter ended March 31 increased to $276.2 million, or $1.09 per share, from $242.5 million, or 95 cents per share, a year ago.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial, on average, forecast earnings of $1.04 per share for the quarter on revenue of $1.73 billion.

Becton, Dickinson's revenue increased 11 percent to $1.75 billion from $158 billion. Converting strong foreign currencies into dollars accounted for 5 percentage points of the increase in quarterly revenue.

Becton, Dickinson's medical segment saw a 9 percent increase in revenue to $922 million. Pharmaceutical systems and diabetes care products led the growth.

In the diagnostics segment, safety-engineered devices and molecular testing systems helped push revenue to $531 million, a 12 percent increase from the year-ago period.

In its biosciences segment, Becton, Dickinson's revenue grew 14 percent to $294 million, mainly due to demand for research instruments.