Baxter International Cuts Jobs at Indiana Facility
December 7, 2016
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff
Baxter International laid off 12 people from its Baxter Healthcare facility in Bloomington, Indiana this week. This is the second round of layoffs in the past two years, when it laid off 36 people. The facility currently employs 650 staff.
Baxter markets a broad range of rental and hospital products, including home, acute and in-center dialysis; sterile IV solutions; infusions systems and devices; parenteral nutrition; biosurgery products and anesthetics; and pharmacy automation, software and services.
In November, the company announced a quarterly dividend and an expanded authorization for its share repurchase program. The annual dividend rate is $0.52 per share.
The company’s board also approved a $1.5 billion increase in its existing share repurchase plan. This plan was originally approved in July 2012, and now has about $1.9 billion of repurchase authority under the new plan.
“These actions reflect our commitment to returning meaningful value to shareholders while also balancing reinvestment in the business to drive long-term, sustainable growth,” said Jay Saccaro, Baxter’s chief financial officer, in a statement.
On October 25, the company released its third-quarter financials. Its third-quarter sales worldwide were $2.6 billion, up three percent on a reported basis and four percent on a constant currency basis compared to the same period in 2015.
Hospital Products sales were $1.6 billion in the third quarter, an increase of two percent on a reported basis and three percent on a constant currency basis. Renal sales totaled $997 million in the quarter, a four percent increase on a reported basis and a six percent increase on a constant currency basis from the same period in the previous year.
At the time, and based on its performance, Baxter raised its financial outlook for the full year for sales growth of about two percent on a reported basis and four percent on a constant currency basis, compared to previous guidance of one to two percent (or three to four percent constant currency).
“We are pleased with the continued strength across our core franchises as well as our improved financial performance, both of which are reflected in our third quarter results,” said Jose Almeida, Baxter’s chairman and chief executive officer, in a statement. “Given this progress, we are intensifying our focus on portfolio management and innovation to accelerate our efforts to introduce new products and therapies.”
Baxter is currently trading for $44.11.
Hot Stock Herald reports that Baxter stock has a 14-day Commodity Channel Index (CCI) of -91.38. When the CCI is closer to +100, it may signal the stock is being overbought. A CCI near -100 may indicate it is oversold.
The company’s 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) is 36.62, the 7-day is 30.8 and the 3-day is 31.79. RSI is determined based on the speed and direction of a stock’s price movement. With a 14-day RSI, if the stock price increased for 14 days straight, its value would be 100. If it fell for 14 straight days, the RSI would be 0.
Recently, one analyst gave Baxter a “buy” rating, 11 indicated “hold” and one rated “underperform.”