Baxter International (BAX)
Health Care · $12.3B market cap · SEC CIK 0000010456
fundamentals score out of 100
Next reports on Oct 28, 2026, with analysts expecting $0.52 in earnings per share.
The case for BAX
- Earnings per share up 37.4%.
- Pays a 3.2% dividend while you wait.
- Moves less than the market (beta 0.67).
The case against
- Losing money over the last year: net margin -9.3%, return on equity -17%.
- Long-term debt of $9.4B would take 11 years of operating cash flow to repay.
- Pays a dividend while losing money over the last twelve months.
- Revenue has shrunk 0.8% a year over five years.
- Value is weak (36/100): no earnings to pay for, 1.1× sales, 2.7% free-cash yield.
What the score is made of
Each factor is half a curve over reported figures and half a rank among the other Health Care companies (momentum is judged against fixed thresholds only), and the five are blended by weight. It describes the last filing and the current price. It is not a forecast.
| Valuewhat you pay for the earnings, sales, assets and cash | 36 |
|---|---|
| Growthhow fast revenue and earnings are moving, this year and over five | 31 |
| Profitabilityhow much of the revenue becomes profit, and how much of that is cash | 11 |
| Momentumhow the price has behaved lately | 60 |
| Stabilityhow violently it moves, what it owes and what it pays you | 37 |
- It is losing money, so it has no P/E; that counts against value rather than being skipped.
- Each factor except momentum is half fixed thresholds, half rank among the 59 Health Care companies.
Key numbers
| Price / earnings | n/a |
|---|---|
| Price / book | 1.77× |
| Price / sales | 1.1× |
| Revenue growth (YoY) | +5.4% |
| EPS growth (YoY) | +37.4% |
| Gross margin | 31% |
| Operating margin | -2% |
| Net margin | -9% |
| Return on equity | -17% |
| Debt / equity | 1.52× |
| Current ratio | 1.95 |
| Dividend yield | 3.22% |
| Beta | 0.67 |
| 52-week range | $15.73 – $30.00 |
| Position in that range | 56% of the way up |
| 3-month return | +15.3% |
| 1-year return | -0.4% |
Five years of financials, as filed
Pulled from Baxter International's XBRL filings on SEC EDGAR. Italic rows are derived from the rows above.
| FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | FY2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $11.2B | $10.6B | $10.4B | $10.1B | $12.1B |
| Gross profit | $3.4B | $4.0B | $4.2B | $3.5B | $4.7B |
| Operating income | -$308M | $14.0M | $707M | -$2.8B | $1.4B |
| Net income | -$957M | -$649M | $2.7B | -$2.4B | $1.3B |
| Operating cash flow | $845M | $1.0B | $1.7B | $1.2B | $2.2B |
| Capital expenditure | $513M | $446M | $432M | $377M | $691M |
| Total assets | $20.1B | $25.8B | $28.3B | $28.3B | $33.5B |
| Total liabilities | $14.0B | $18.8B | $19.8B | $22.4B | $24.4B |
| Shareholder equity | $6.1B | $7.0B | $8.4B | $5.8B | $9.1B |
| Cash | $2.0B | $1.8B | $3.1B | $1.6B | $3.0B |
| Long-term debt | $9.4B | $13.2B | $13.9B | $16.7B | $17.8B |
| Free cash flow | $332M | $573M | $1.3B | $834M | $1.5B |
| Gross margin | 30.1% | 37.5% | 40.1% | 35.3% | 38.9% |
| Operating margin | -2.7% | 0.1% | 6.8% | -28.3% | 11.1% |
| Net margin | -8.5% | -6.1% | 25.6% | -24.2% | 10.6% |
| Diluted shares | 513M | 510M | 508M | 504M | 508M |
Share count is essentially flat over 4 years.
What Baxter International says it does
Company Overview Baxter International Inc., through our subsidiaries, provides a broad portfolio of essential healthcare products, including sterile intravenous (IV) solutions; infusion systems and devices; parenteral nutrition therapies; inhaled anesthetics; generic injectable pharmaceuticals; surgical hemostat and sealant products; advanced surgical equipment; smart bed systems; patient monitoring and diagnostic technologies; and respiratory health devices. These products are used by hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, ambulatory surgery centers, doctors’ offices, kidney dialysis centers and patients at home under physician supervision. Our global footprint and the critical nature of our products and services play a key role in expanding access to healthcare in emerging and developed countries. As of December 31, 2025, after giving effect to the sale of our Kidney Care business (as discussed below), we manufactured…
Risk factors BAX lists in its 10-K
- Selling, General and Administrative (SG&A) Expenses
- Other Operating Expense (Income), Net
- Net Income (Loss) and Earnings (Loss) per Diluted Share
- Cash Flows from Operations — Continuing Operations
- Cash Flows from Investing Activities - Continuing Operations
- Cash Flows from Financing Activities
- Credit Facilities, Commercial Paper Program and Access to Capital and Credit Ratings
- Recently issued accounting standards not yet adopted
- Revenue Recognition and Related Provisions and Allowances
- Deferred Tax Asset Valuation Allowances and Reserves for Uncertain Tax Positions
- Impairment of Goodwill and Other Long-Lived Assets
- Intangible Assets with Definite Lives and Property, Plant and Equipment
- Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
- Financial Statements and Supplementary Data