Wells Fargo Doesn’t Think Becton Dickinson (BDX) Is Done Skyrocketing Farooq Mon, November 9, 2026 at 11:58 AM EST 4 min read BDX +1.57% ^GSPC +2.27% ^IXIC +2.54% ^SOX +6.39% ^DJI +2.07% Trade BDX on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
We just published a list of the Don't Miss Out: 10 Stocks Getting Major Upgrades From Top Analysts and Becton Dickinson (NYSE:BDX) ranked 10th on this list.
Wall Street ended a punishing week on Friday with a partial recovery. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.09% to 24,579.42 and the S&P 500 gained 0.31% to 7,376.86, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.46%, according to the Yahoo Finance live blog on November 6. The S&P 500 was still on track for its worst week since June.
Thursday did the damage. The S&P 500 fell more than 4%, its worst day since the April 2025 tariff crash, and about $3 trillion in market value disappeared, Yahoo Finance reported. The PHLX Semiconductor Index dropped 12%, its worst day since March 2020, and the Nasdaq slipped into a correction.
The trigger was political. After Tuesday's election, Democratic gains raised fears of tighter rules on AI data centers, Reuters reported on November 6, and investors worried that new rules could slow data center construction. For the week, technology stocks fell 7% and energy stocks fell 11%.
Volatility spiked along with prices. The VVIX rose as much as 70% on Thursday, a move seen only eight times since 1991, according to CBOE data cited by Yahoo Finance's Brian Sozzi. In the eight earlier cases, the S&P 500 averaged a 3.0% gain one month later and 14.7% one year later. You might also be interested in reading our piece on oversold AI stocks where Wall Street analysts are spotting 50%+ upside.
Friday's October jobs report added a second jolt. Employers added 165,000 jobs, more than twice what economists expected, and the unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%, Reuters reported. Markets priced about a 78% chance of a quarter-point hike at the Federal Reserve's December meeting, up from about 67% a day earlier.
Fitch Ratings analyst Olu Sonola said the economy "remains on firm footing," and that the labor market's resilience pushes the debate toward a December hike. St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem, who has advocated further hikes, called inflation "a regressive tax, a distortionary tax." Our analysis of 52-week low technology stocks to buy according to analysts covers another group.
Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said last month that policymakers would watch "the accumulation of data" to decide whether more tightening is needed. The 10-year Treasury yield was about 4.86% on Friday, up roughly 2 basis points, Yahoo Finance said. The Fed meets December 8-9, and a quarter-point hike is the widely expected outcome, according to Reuters.
Becton Dickinson has average upside potential of 4%, based on analysts' average price target, and a market cap of $57.71 billion. It had 46 hedge fund holders as of Q2 2026.
Wells Fargo analyst Lawrence Biegelsen upgraded Becton Dickinson to Overweight from Equal Weight on November 6 and raised his price target to $242 from $170.
Wells Fargo cited improved execution. The medical device maker's second-half fiscal 2026 results came in ahead of expectations for sales growth and earnings per share, and, according to the note, management described fiscal 2027 guidance as prudent, leaving room for upside. The target is about 17 times a calendar 2028 earnings estimate of $14.40. A summary of the note adds that Becton is a more focused medical technology business after the Waters transaction.
In its fiscal fourth quarter, Becton reported revenue of $5.27 billion, up 5.4%, and adjusted earnings per share of $4.15, up 27.3%. Over the full fiscal year, adjusted earnings per share were $12.70, free cash flow rose 42.5% to $2.9 billion and cash from continuing operations rose 30.0% to $3.6 billion. Becton's fiscal 2027 targets are adjusted earnings per share of $13.10 to $13.30 and low single-digit revenue growth.
For the backstory on the profit slump, see why Becton's earnings fell so much further than its revenue grew.
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