Munger Mode rating: 2 out of 5 — Sell. Our own rating from the research report below, on business quality first: moat durability and management, with price separating the top three.
We have watched Becton Dickinson for the better part of fifty years — it has raised its dividend for 54 consecutive years, which is longer than most marriages last, and it sells things hospitals cannot function without. So it pains us a little to say what we're about to say: this is an average business, not a wonderful one, and no amount of portfolio surgery, adjusted earnings, or activist-driven simplification changes that arithmetic. The tell is not any single event. It is the pattern. Three FDA warning letters across three different franchises in six years — Alaris infusion pumps, Pyxis dispensing, and now the El Paso plant that makes ChloraPrep. A decade of "integration and restructuring" charges that arrive every single year like a relative who claims each visit is the last one.
Recent filings analysed: 8-K (2026-08-06), 10-Q (2026-08-06), 8-K (2026-07-22), 8-K (2026-05-29).
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