Why Bausch Health Companies Stock Dived by More Than 7% Today

Eyecare specialist Bausch Health Companies (BHC -7.54%) wasn’t a clear winner on the stock exchange Thursday, to put it charitably. After unveiling its latest earnings report it was met with a sell-off, as investors drove its share price down by over 7%. That was out of sync with the generally positive sentiment on equities that day, as the S&P 500 index posted a gain of 0.9%.

Investors not pleased with revenue growth and narrowed loss

Although Bausch management put a positive spin on the company’s first quarter, the earnings release featured a few numbers that just didn’t look very pretty.

It earned revenue of $2.15 billion, and although this was up by 11% year over year, it matched the average estimate of analysts following the stock. The company managed to narrow its net loss based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to $64 million ($0.17 per share) from the first-quarter 2023 shortfall of $201 million, which was undoubtedly an accomplishment. Yet it wasn’t anywhere near the $0.69 per-share profit those pundits were collectively modeling.

Another positive the market did not appreciate was that all of Bausch’s operating segments posted gains in revenue. This was led by its foundational Bausch + Lomb unit; it saw an 11% increase, matching that of total revenue.

2024 guidance reaffirmed

Bausch also reaffirmed its guidance for full-year 2024. It stated again that it’s expecting revenue of $9.30 billion to $9.55 billion for the year, with non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $3.20 billion to $3.35 billion. It did not provide a bottom-line forecast.

On average, analysts tracking Bausch stock are anticipating $9.39 billion for annual revenue.