Moody's ups Baxter outlook to positive

Moody's Investors Service said it changed Baxter International's outlook to positive from stable and affirmed its ratings, including the Baa1 senior unsecured.

The change to a positive outlook reflects Moody's expectation for improved organic sales growth and continued progress toward full remediation of the Colleague pump matter, ongoing improvements in margins and a moderate acquisition growth strategy.

Using the global medical products & device methodology, Baxter's methodology-implied rating is A2 based on Dec. 31 financial data, which represents material improvement from the methodology-implied rating of "Baa1" based on 2005 year-end financial data, the agency said, noting that the improvement was driven by the company surpassing the $10 billion revenue threshold as well as better financial strength measures.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.