Bausch Health plunges on lowered outlook

LAVAL, QUE. Bausch Health Cos. Inc. stock plummeted by a quarter Tuesday morning after the company missed earnings expectations and lowered its outlook for the year.

The plunge of $4.04, or 24.08 per cent, to $12.74 in late-morning trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange came on the final day of its initial public offering for eye-products maker Bausch + Lomb, which debuted Friday on the TSX and New York Stock Exchange and will operate as a separate company after trading closes Tuesday.

The stock closed at $9.40 (U.S.) in New York.

Bausch Health expects to wrap the spin-off with $630 million in gross proceeds, which it plans to put toward its $23.17 billion in longterm debt.

The stock dive also came after the Quebec-based firm, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, notched down its guidance to between $8.25 billion and $8.40 billion in revenue for 2022 from $8.40 billion and $8.60 billion previously. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization are forecast at $3.22 billion to $3.38 billion, down from $3.35 billion to $3.50 billion.

Bausch Health reported a loss of $69 million in its first quarter compared with a loss of $610 million a year earlier when it took a goodwill impairment charge in its Ortho Dermatologics business.

“Our organic growth in the first quarter of 2022 was stable compared to the same quarter last year, despite incremental macro pressures and a challenging supply chain environment,” Thomas Appio, incoming chief executive officer, said in a release.