Baxter’s share price declined by almost 23% on 31 July following the disclosure of disappointing Q2 2025 results that prompted the company to trim its 2025 profit outlook.
Shares in the US-listed medical device manufacturer dipped to $21.76 at market close on 31 July, versus $28.05 per share the previous day. Shares have since rallied slightly, to $22.15 per share in premarket trading as of 4 August. Baxter has a market cap of $11.27bn.
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Baxter achieved total Q2 2025 revenues of $2.81bn, or 59 cents per share, corresponding to a 4% rise on Q2 2024 but falling short of estimates of around $2.82bn or 61 cents per share for the quarter.
The company revised its 2025 profit outlook to between 6% and 7%, down from 7% to 8%, citing “softness in demand” among its portfolio and operational impacts caused by Hurricane Helene in September 2024.
Baxter now expects 2025 profits to fall between $2.42 to $2.52 per share, down from $2.47 to $2.55, while analysts had expected $2.52. The company said the revision was intended to “capture potential downside risks” associated with factors that primarily impacted its Medical Products & Therapies segment.
Baxter’s Medical Products & Therapies (MPT) segment achieved profits around $1.3bn in Q2 2025, reflecting a negligible change on Q2 2024.
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By GlobalDataHeather Knight, Baxter’s chief operating officer, told investors on a conference call that while MPT saw strong demand for advanced surgical products with a 7% rise in the sub-segment to $296m in Q2 2025 versus $277m in Q2 2024, this was offset by “softness” in Infusion Therapies & Technologies (ITT), with profits for the quarter around $1bn, reflecting a 1% decline on Q2 2024.
According to Knight, the ITT’s performance was due to a mix of lower US patient admissions than anticipated and nationwide hospital IV fluid conservation efforts that were initiated due to damage caused to Baxter’s North Carolina manufacturing facility by Hurricane Helene in September 2024.
Knight said: “While we have started to see a slight improvement with hospitals reducing fluid conservation efforts, our current outlook builds in potential downside risk that conservation efforts don’t materially improve in the second half of the year.”
Baxter teamed up with Vizient in July, a move that saw the healthcare services company add IV fluid to its Vizient Reserve Program to improve supply assurance and mitigate the fallout caused by Hurricane Helene.
Baxter’s pharmaceuticals unit also underperformed, with Q2 2025 declines of 3% to $332m in its Injectables and Anaesthesia segment compared to $341m in Q2 2024.
Of the low-end profit outlook for 2025, Baxter chief financial officer, Joel Grade, told investors that plans to halt shipping of its Novum infusion pumps for the rest of the year was an influencing factor.
Novum has been implicated in two patient deaths and multiple injuries and was recalled by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June 2025.
Grade added: “But our goal is to resume shipping as soon as possible and before the end of the year. But at this point, we thought that it was prudent to bake that in for the second half of the year.”
