One way to determine which are the best stocks to buy and watch is to focus on those with rising relative price strength. One that fits that bill is Becton Dickinson stock. On Tuesday its Relative Strength (RS) Rating climbed to 82, up from 76 the day before. Market research shows that the stocks that go on to make the biggest gains often have an 80 or higher RS Rating in the early stages of their moves.
Medical supplies and systems maker Becton Dickinson broke out of a base in January, a time when many stocks were nose-diving in the early 2022 market correction. The market turned up in mid-March, then returned to a correction earlier this month. Can Becton Dickinson stock continue its ascent even as the market plunges?
Becton Dickinson Stock Sought By Big Investors
Among its other ratings Becton Dickinson stock has a mild 72 Composite Rating and lackluster 56 EPS Rating. Look for those ratings to improve when the market turns up again. One bullish rating is its B- Accumulation/Distribution Rating, indicating big investors such as mutual funds and ETFs are fairly briskly accumulating its shares.
Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based Becton Dickinson reported a 20% year-over-year drop in earnings last quarter to $3.64 per share, vs. a tough comp number last year as hospitals restocked amid the pandemic. Sales last quarter slid 6% to $4.995 billion. Beckton Dickinson stock hit a recent high 275.42 on April 8, just a few percentage points below its all time high 285.99 set on Feb. 5, 2020. It's since retreated in sync with the latest market correction and was down 1.4% Tuesday afternoon at 255.
The company will hold a conference call the morning of May 5 to discuss its fiscal Q2 earnings results.
See How IBD Helps You Make More Money In Stocks
While Becton Dickinson stock is not near an ideal entry right now, see if it manages to form and break out from a proper chart pattern.
Becton Dickinson stock holds the No. 4 rank among its peers in the Medical-Supplies industry group. West Pharmaceutical Services and Patterson Companies are also among the group's highest-rated stocks.
When looking for the best stocks to buy and watch, be sure to pay attention to relative price strength.
IBD's unique rating measures market leadership with a 1 (worst) to 99 (best) score. The rating shows how a stock's price behavior over the last 52 weeks compares to all the other stocks in our database.
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