December 2017 Crossing Wall Street

The 2018 Buy List
Eddy Elfenbein, December 31st, 2017 at 6:17 pm

Here are the 25 stocks for the 2018 Buy List. It’s locked and sealed, and I can’t make any changes for 12 months.

For tracking purposes, I assume the Buy List is a $1 million portfolio that’s equally divided among 25 stocks. Below are all 25 positions with the number of shares for each and the closing price for 2017. Whenever I discuss how the Buy List is doing, the list below is what I’m referring to.

Company	Ticker	Price	Shares	Balance
AFLAC	AFL	$87.78	455.6847	$40,000.00
Alliance Data Systems	ADS	$253.48	157.8034	$40,000.00
Becton, Dickinson	BDX	$214.06	186.8635	$40,000.00
Carriage Services	CSV	$25.71	1,555.8149	$40,000.00
Cerner	CERN	$67.39	593.5599	$40,000.00
Check Point Software	CHKP	$103.62	386.0259	$40,000.00
Church & Dwight	CHD	$50.17	797.2892	$40,000.00
Cognizant Technology Solutions	CTSH	$71.02	563.2216	$40,000.00
Continental Building Products	CBPX	$28.15	1,420.9591	$40,000.00
Danaher	DHR	$92.82	430.9416	$40,000.00
FactSet Research Systems	FDS	$192.76	207.5119	$40,000.00
Fiserv	FISV	$131.13	305.0408	$40,000.00
Hormel Foods	HRL	$36.39	1,099.2031	$40,000.00
Ingredion	INGR	$139.80	286.1230	$40,000.00
Intercontinental Exchange	ICE	$70.56	566.8934	$40,000.00
JM Smucker	SJM	$124.24	321.9575	$40,000.00
Moody’s	MCO	$147.61	270.9844	$40,000.00
Ross Stores	ROST	$80.25	498.4424	$40,000.00
RPM International	RPM	$52.42	763.0675	$40,000.00
Sherwin-Williams	SHW	$410.04	97.5515	$40,000.00
Signature Bank	SBNY	$137.26	291.4177	$40,000.00
Snap-on	SNA	$174.30	229.4894	$40,000.00
Stryker	SYK	$154.84	258.3312	$40,000.00
Torchmark	TMK	$90.71	440.9657	$40,000.00
Wabtec	WAB	$81.43	491.2195	$40,000.00
Total				$1,000,000.00

The five new stocks are Carriage Services, Check Point Software Technologies, Church & Dwight, FactSet Research Systems and Torchmark.

Also, thanks to the recent merger, Becton, Dickinson will take the place of CR Bard.

The five deletions are Axalta Coating Systems, Cinemark Holdings, Express Scripts, HEICO and Microsoft.

Danaher is now our largest stock, with a market cap of $65 billion. The Buy List is mostly large- and mid-cap stocks. Only two are smaller than $7 billion. Continental Building Products is about $1 billion, and Carriage Services is $410 million.

Only AFLAC and Fiserv have been on the Buy List all 13 years. This is Stryker’s 11th year. FactSet is returning for the third time to the Buy List.

Here’s a brief look at our five new stocks.

Carriage Services (CSV) is a Texas-based funeral-home operator. They currently operate 178 funeral homes in 29 states, and 32 cemeteries in 11 states. Barely anyone on Wall Street follows Carriage, but the numbers look good.

Check Point Software Technologies (CHKP) is an Israeli-based computer-security firm. It’s not cheap at 19.7 times this year’s earnings, but I think that’s not a bad price considering their growth.

Church & Dwight (CHD) is a company I’ve wanted to add for many years. They’re a consumer-products stalwart. C&D owns several well-known brands like Arm & Hammer, OxiClean and, of course, Trojan.

FactSet Research Systems (FDS) is a financial-data and software company. They help provide all the numbers that investors love to crunch. The stock was previously on the Buy List from 2006 to 2009 and again in 2013. I probably should have had them on the whole time.

Torchmark (TMK) is a stock I’ve wanted to add to the Buy List for years. This is a very well-run insurance company based in Texas. Torchmark specializes in serving the middle-income market. The company almost always grows its operating income by 7% to 10% per share each year.

The 2017 Buy List
Eddy Elfenbein, December 31st, 2017 at 5:32 pm

The 2017 trading year is on the books! For 2017, the S&P 500 gained 19.42% while our Buy List gained 20.58%. However, if we include dividends (and total return is what really counts), then the S&P 500 gained 21.83% while out Buy List gained 21.79%.

In other words, we lost to the market by 0.04%! That comes to down to one penny over the whole year for every $25 invested.

I’m very competitive, so I hate losing to the market, even if it’s by a teeny amount. I will, however, add a few words in my defense. This was a difficult market to beat because a small number of very large companies did very well. That tended to distort the market’s overall return. About 55% of the stocks in the S&P 500 failed to beat the S&P 500.

Still, over the long haul, our Buy List has done very well. Over the last 12 years, the total compounded gain for the Buy List is 228.09%, compared with 176.11% for the S&P 500.

Our biggest winner this year was Moody’s (MCO), which gained more than 56%. HEICO (HEI) came in second. HEI was our #1 performer in 2016. Twenty-one of our 25 stocks finished in the black in 2017. Our biggest loser was Signature Bank (SBNY), which lost 8.6%.

For people who care about such things, the “beta” of our Buy List in 2017 was 1.0092. The correlation of the daily changes of the Buy List to the changes of the S&P 500 was 83.6%.

The chart below details the Buy List’s performance. I’ve listed each stock along with the number of shares and the starting and ending prices. For tracking purposes, I assume the Buy List is a $1 million portfolio that starts out equally divided among the 25 stocks.

Stock	Shares	12/30/16	Beginning	12/29/17	Ending	Profit/Loss
AFL	574.7126	$69.60	$40,000	$87.78	$50,448.27	26.12%
ADS	175.0547	$228.50	$40,000	$253.48	$44,372.87	10.93%
AXTA	1470.5882	$27.20	$40,000	$32.36	$47,588.23	18.97%
CERN	844.4163	$47.37	$40,000	$67.39	$56,905.21	42.26%
CNK	1042.7529	$38.36	$40,000	$34.82	$36,308.66	-9.23%
CBPX	1731.6017	$23.10	$40,000	$28.15	$48,744.59	21.86%
CTSH	713.9033	$56.03	$40,000	$71.02	$50,701.41	26.75%
BCR	178.0468	$224.66	$40,000	$331.24	$58,976.22	47.44%
DHR	513.8746	$77.84	$40,000	$92.82	$47,697.84	19.24%
ESRX	581.4799	$68.79	$40,000	$74.64	$43,401.66	8.50%
FISV	376.3643	$106.28	$40,000	$131.13	$49,352.65	23.38%
HEI	648.0881	$61.72	$40,000	$94.35	$61,147.11	52.87%
HRL	1149.0951	$34.81	$40,000	$36.39	$41,815.57	4.54%
INGR	320.1024	$124.96	$40,000	$139.80	$44,750.32	11.88%
ICE	708.9685	$56.42	$40,000	$70.56	$50,024.82	25.06%
MSFT	643.7078	$62.14	$40,000	$85.54	$55,062.77	37.66%
MCO	424.3131	$94.27	$40,000	$147.61	$62,632.86	56.58%
ROST	609.7561	$65.60	$40,000	$80.25	$48,932.93	22.33%
RPM	743.0801	$53.83	$40,000	$52.42	$38,952.26	-2.62%
SHW	148.8427	$268.74	$40,000	$410.04	$61,031.46	52.58%
SBNY	266.3116	$150.20	$40,000	$137.26	$36,553.93	-8.62%
SJM	312.3536	$128.06	$40,000	$124.24	$38,806.81	-2.98%
SNA	233.5494	$171.27	$40,000	$174.30	$40,707.66	1.77%
SYK	333.8619	$119.81	$40,000	$154.84	$51,695.18	29.24%
WAB	481.8116	$83.02	$40,000	$81.43	$39,233.92	-1.92%
Total			$1,000,000		$1,205,845.20

Note that HEICO (HEI) split 5-for-4 on April 19.

Note on CR Bard (BCR). The company was bought out by Becton Dickinson (BDX). The deal was completed on December 29, the final trading day of the year. For the year-end price, we used the final price for BCR, which was $332.24, although BCR didn’t trade during the day on December 29.

Here’s how the Buy List performed throughout the year:

Here’s the data behind the dividend-adjusted returns. I’ve listed each stock’s beginning price, ending price and dividend-adjusted starting price. My source for dividend-adjusted prices is StockCharts.

Symbol	Start	Finish	Adju Start	Gain	Gain w/Divs
AFL	$69.60	$87.78	$68.03	26.12%	29.03%
ADS	$228.50	$253.48	$226.49	10.93%	11.92%
AXTA	$27.20	$32.36	$27.20	18.97%	18.97%
CERN	$47.37	$67.39	$47.37	42.26%	42.26%
CNK	$38.36	$34.82	$37.20	-9.23%	-6.40%
CTSH	$56.03	$71.02	$55.67	26.75%	27.57%
CBPX	$23.10	$28.15	$23.10	21.86%	21.86%
BCR	$224.66	$331.24	$223.86	47.44%	47.97%
DHR	$77.84	$92.82	$77.46	19.24%	19.83%
ESRX	$68.79	$74.64	$68.79	8.50%	8.50%
FISV	$106.28	$131.13	$106.28	23.38%	23.38%
HEI	$61.72	$94.35	$61.65	52.87%	53.04%
HRL	$34.81	$36.39	$34.10	4.54%	6.72%
INGR	$124.96	$139.80	$123.30	11.88%	13.38%
ICE	$56.42	$70.56	$55.73	25.06%	26.61%
SJM	$128.06	$124.24	$124.85	-2.98%	-0.49%
MSFT	$62.14	$85.54	$60.78	37.66%	40.74%
MCO	$94.27	$147.61	$93.11	56.58%	58.53%
ROST	$65.60	$80.25	$64.96	22.33%	23.54%
RPM	$53.83	$52.42	$52.60	-2.62%	-0.34%
SHW	$268.74	$410.04	$266.06	52.58%	54.12%
SBNY	$150.20	$137.26	$150.20	-8.62%	-8.62%
SNA	$171.27	$174.30	$168.17	1.77%	3.65%
SYK	$119.81	$154.84	$118.70	29.24%	30.45%
WAB	$83.02	$81.43	$82.55	-1.92%	-1.36%
Total				20.58%	21.79%

Every Buy List Stock
Eddy Elfenbein, December 31st, 2017 at 1:45 pm

Here are all 81 Buy List stocks and when they made the cut.

Stocks

’06

’07

’08

’09

’10

’11

’12

’13

’14

’15

’16

’17

’18

ABT

X

ADS

X

AFL

X

APH

X

AXTA

X

BAX

X

BBBY

X

BCR

X

BDX

X

BER/WRB

X

BIIB

X

BLL

X

BMET

X

BRO

X

CA

X

CBPX

X

CERN

X

CHD

X

CHKP

X

CLC

X

CNK

X

CSV

X

CTSH

X

DCI

X

DELL

X

DHR

X

DLX

X

DTV

X

EBAY/PYPL

X

ESRX

X

EV

X

EXPD

X

F

X

FDS

X

FIC

X

FISV

X

GDW/WB

X

GGG

X

GILD

X

HCBK

X

HD

X

HEI

X

HOG

X

HRL

X

HRS

X

IBM

X

ICE

X

INGR

X

INTC

X

JNJ

X

JOSB

X

JPM

X

LLY

X

LNCR

X

LUK

X

MCD

X

MCO

X

MDT

X

MOG-A

X

MSFT

X

NICK

X

ORCL

X

QCOM

X

RAI

X

RESP

X

ROST

X

RPM

X

SBNY

X

SEIC

X

SHW

X

SJM

X

SNA

X

SRCL

X

SYK

X

SYY

X

TMK

X

UNH

X

VAR

X

WAB

X

WFC

X

WXS/WEX

X

A few notes. AFLAC and Fiserv are the only two left that have been on every year. Stryker is on for the 11th year in a row.

Cinemark and Axalta depart after just one year on the Buy List. FactSet returns to the Buy List for a third time.

CWS Market Review – December 31, 2017
Eddy Elfenbein, December 31st, 2017 at 11:40 am

The 2017 trading year has come to a close. Overall, this was a very good year for the stock market. Plus, it was one of the least-volatile years on record.

For the year, the S&P 500 gained 19.42%. Including dividends, the S&P 500 gained 21.83%.

Our Buy List had another good year. For 2017, we gained 20.58%. Including dividends, we were up 21.79%.

That’s right—we lost to the market by 0.04%. In simpler terms, that’s one penny over the course of a year for every $25 invested.

I’m very competitive, so I hate losing at anything, even by such a small amount. In my defense, this was an unusual year for stocks. That’s because a small group of very large companies did well. Roughly 55% of the stocks in the S&P 500 failed to beat the index this year. I also think of how things would be different if Axalta had accepted the $37-per-share offer from Nippon Paint.

Still, our long-term track record is very good. Over the 12 years of the Buy List, our total compounded gain is 228.09% compared with 176.11% for the S&P 500.

The Final Numbers for 2017

With the Buy List, I always try to be as transparent as possible. The table below details the Buy List’s performance for 2017. I’ve listed each stock along with the number of shares and the starting and ending prices. For tracking purposes, I assume the Buy List is a $1 million portfolio that starts out equally divided among the 25 stocks.

Stock	Shares	12/30/16	Beginning	12/29/17	Ending	Profit/Loss
AFL	574.7126	$69.60	$40,000	$87.78	$50,448.27	26.12%
ADS	175.0547	$228.50	$40,000	$253.48	$44,372.87	10.93%
AXTA	1470.5882	$27.20	$40,000	$32.36	$47,588.23	18.97%
CERN	844.4163	$47.37	$40,000	$67.39	$56,905.21	42.26%
CNK	1042.7529	$38.36	$40,000	$34.82	$36,308.66	-9.23%
CBPX	1731.6017	$23.10	$40,000	$28.15	$48,744.59	21.86%
CTSH	713.9033	$56.03	$40,000	$71.02	$50,701.41	26.75%
BCR	178.0468	$224.66	$40,000	$331.24	$58,976.22	47.44%
DHR	513.8746	$77.84	$40,000	$92.82	$47,697.84	19.24%
ESRX	581.4799	$68.79	$40,000	$74.64	$43,401.66	8.50%
FISV	376.3643	$106.28	$40,000	$131.13	$49,352.65	23.38%
HEI	648.0881	$61.72	$40,000	$94.35	$61,147.11	52.87%
HRL	1149.0951	$34.81	$40,000	$36.39	$41,815.57	4.54%
INGR	320.1024	$124.96	$40,000	$139.80	$44,750.32	11.88%
ICE	708.9685	$56.42	$40,000	$70.56	$50,024.82	25.06%
MSFT	643.7078	$62.14	$40,000	$85.54	$55,062.77	37.66%
MCO	424.3131	$94.27	$40,000	$147.61	$62,632.86	56.58%
ROST	609.7561	$65.60	$40,000	$80.25	$48,932.93	22.33%
RPM	743.0801	$53.83	$40,000	$52.42	$38,952.26	-2.62%
SHW	148.8427	$268.74	$40,000	$410.04	$61,031.46	52.58%
SBNY	266.3116	$150.20	$40,000	$137.26	$36,553.93	-8.62%
SJM	312.3536	$128.06	$40,000	$124.24	$38,806.81	-2.98%
SNA	233.5494	$171.27	$40,000	$174.30	$40,707.66	1.77%
SYK	333.8619	$119.81	$40,000	$154.84	$51,695.18	29.24%
WAB	481.8116	$83.02	$40,000	$81.43	$39,233.92	-1.92%
Total			$1,000,000		$1,205,845.20

Note that HEICO (HEI) split 5-for-4 on April 19.

The 2018 Buy List

Now let’s turn our attention to the new Buy List. Here are the 25 stocks for 2018:

AFLAC (AFL)
Alliance Data Systems (ADS)
Becton, Dickinson (BDX)
Carriage Services (CSV)
Cerner (CERN)
Check Point Software Technologies (CHKP)
Church & Dwight (CHD)
Continental Building Products (CBPX)
Cognizant Technology Solutions (CTSH)
Danaher (DHR)
FactSet Research Systems (FDS)
Fiserv (FISV)
Hormel Foods (HRL)
Ingredion (INGR)
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)
Moody’s (MCO)
Ross Stores (ROST)
RPM International (RPM)
Sherwin-Williams (SHW)
Signature Bank (SBNY)
JM Smucker (SJM)
Snap-on (SNA)
Stryker (SYK)
Torchmark (TMK)
Wabtec (WAB)

The five new stocks are Carriage Services (CSV), Check Point Software Technologies (CHKP), Church & Dwight (CHD), FactSet Research Systems (FDS) and Torchmark (TMK). I’ll have more on those in a bit.

Also, thanks to the merger, Becton, Dickinson (BDX) will take the place of CR Bard. I’m starting out BDX with a Buy Below price of $228 per share.

The five sells are Axalta Coating Systems (AXTA), Cinemark Holdings (CNK), Express Scripts (ESRX), HEICO (HEI) and Microsoft (MSFT).

Here’s the new $1 million portfolio, now divided equally among 25 stocks. Below are all 25 positions with the number of shares for each and the closing price for 2017. Whenever I discuss how well the Buy List is doing, the list below is what I’m referring to. The Buy List is now locked and sealed, and I can’t make any changes for 12 months.

Company	Ticker	Price	Shares	Balance
AFLAC	AFL	$87.78	455.6847	$40,000.00
Alliance Data Systems	ADS	$253.48	157.8034	$40,000.00
Becton, Dickinson	BDX	$214.06	186.8635	$40,000.00
Carriage Services	CSV	$25.71	1,555.8149	$40,000.00
Cerner	CERN	$67.39	593.5599	$40,000.00
Check Point Software	CHKP	$103.62	386.0259	$40,000.00
Church & Dwight	CHD	$50.17	797.2892	$40,000.00
Cognizant Technology Solutions	CTSH	$71.02	563.2216	$40,000.00
Continental Building Products	CBPX	$28.15	1,420.9591	$40,000.00
Danaher	DHR	$92.82	430.9416	$40,000.00
FactSet Research Systems	FDS	$192.76	207.5119	$40,000.00
Fiserv	FISV	$131.13	305.0408	$40,000.00
Hormel Foods	HRL	$36.39	1,099.2031	$40,000.00
Ingredion	INGR	$139.80	286.1230	$40,000.00
Intercontinental Exchange	ICE	$70.56	566.8934	$40,000.00
JM Smucker	SJM	$124.24	321.9575	$40,000.00
Moody’s	MCO	$147.61	270.9844	$40,000.00
Ross Stores	ROST	$80.25	498.4424	$40,000.00
RPM International	RPM	$52.42	763.0675	$40,000.00
Sherwin-Williams	SHW	$410.04	97.5515	$40,000.00
Signature Bank	SBNY	$137.26	291.4177	$40,000.00
Snap-on	SNA	$174.30	229.4894	$40,000.00
Stryker	SYK	$154.84	258.3312	$40,000.00
Torchmark	TMK	$90.71	440.9657	$40,000.00
Wabtec	WAB	$81.43	491.2195	$40,000.00
Total				$1,000,000.00

Danaher is now the largest stock with a market cap of $65 billion. The Buy List is largely large- and mid-cap stocks. Only two are smaller than $7 billion. Continental Building Products (CBPX) is about $1 billion, and Carriage Services (CSV) is $410 million.

Only AFLAC and Fiserv have been on the Buy List all 13 years. This is Stryker’s 11th year. FactSet is returning for the third time to the Buy List.

Our Five New Members

Here’s a brief look at our five new stocks plus their starting Buy Below prices. I’ll have more to say on each stock in upcoming issues.

Carriage Services (CSV) is one of those stocks that I’m sure has you thinking, “Poor Eddy has lost his mind.” Carriage is a funeral-home operator based in Texas. The company is also far smaller than most of the other companies on the Buy List. Still, it’s good to have a below-the-radar company in your portfolio. Barely anyone follows Carriage, but the numbers look good. I’m giving Carriage a Buy Below price of $28 per share.

Check Point Software Technologies (CHKP) is an Israeli-based computer-security firm. It’s not cheap at 19.7 times this year’s earnings, but I think that’s not a bad price considering their growth. Buy up to $111 per share.

Church & Dwight (CHD) is a company I’ve wanted to add for many years. They’re a very strong number in consumer staples. They own several well-known brands like Arm & Hammer, OxiClean and, of course, Trojan. Church & Dwight is a buy up to $54 per share.

FactSet Research Systems (FDS) is a financial-data and software company. They help provide all the numbers that investors love to crunch. The stock was previously on the Buy List from 2006 to 2009 and again in 2013. I probably should have had them on the whole time. I’m starting FactSet as a buy up to $202 per share.

Torchmark (TMK) is a stock I’ve wanted to add to the Buy List for years. This is a very well-run insurance company based in Texas. The company almost always grows its operating income by 7% to 10% per share each year. Buy below $97 per share.

One last item. RPM International (RPM) will release its fiscal Q2 earnings on Thursday, January 4. The consensus on Wall Street is for earnings of 59 cents per share. That’s up from 52 cents the year before.

That’s all for now. The new trading year begins bright and early on Tuesday morning. We’ll get some of the key turn-of-the-month econ reports. ISM comes out on Tuesday. The ADP payroll report is on Thursday. Then the big jobs report comes out next Friday. Be sure to keep checking the blog for daily updates. I want to wish everyone a happy, healthy and profitable New Year. I’ll have more market analysis for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review!

– Eddy

The Trading Year Ends
Eddy Elfenbein, December 29th, 2017 at 6:39 pm

The 2017 trading year has come to a close. It was a good year for the stock market, and it was a historically calm year for stocks.

All told, the S&P 500 gained 19.42%. Including dividends, it was up 21.83%.

Our Buy List gained 20.58% on the year. With dividends, it was up 21.79%.

Morning News: December 29, 2017
Eddy Elfenbein, December 29th, 2017 at 7:01 am

Rivals Erode Bitcoin’s Store of Value

China Offers Tax Incentives to Persuade U.S. Companies to Stay

Why Shenzhen Is the Big 2017 Loser

As MiFID Nears, This Risk Officer Is Looking Forward to February

Trump Stretches Meaning of Deregulation in Touting Achievements

Last-Minute Rush to Prepay Taxes Gives Way to Confusion and Anger

SoftBank Succeeds in Tender Offer for Large Stake in Uber

General Electric: What To Look For In 2018

India’s Richest Man Bails Out Brother Fueling Record RCom Rally

Airbus Confirms $50 Billion Jet Order, One of the Biggest Aviation Deals in History

Apple Apologizes After Outcry Over Slowed iPhones

Ben Carlson: The First Rule of Personal Finance

Roger Nusbaum: What It Means To Be An Advisor

Mark Hines: Do You Know When to Fold Your Trades?

Cullen Roche: 2017 Fixed Income Review – Bond Permabears Wrong Again

Be sure to follow me on Twitter.

Wall Street’s Year-End Forecasts
Eddy Elfenbein, December 28th, 2017 at 2:09 pm

The chart above is from Bespoke Investment Group, and it lists Wall Street’s consensus for the market’s return over the coming year compared with how well the market actually did.

As you can see, Wall Street’s track record ain’t that good. On average, Wall Street has missed by 13.1%. If you simply said 9% every year, you would have beaten that.

Looking at the chart, it’s interesting how narrow Wall Street’s predictions are. Most of the projections listed above are between +5% and +10%. None was negative. The standard deviation of the market’s actual returns is four times that of the forecasts.

Here’s a scatterplot. The Y-axis is Wall Street’s forecasts and the X-axis is what really happened. The r-square is 0.01.

They kept the data ranges the same for both axes to show you how narrow Wall Street’s forecasts are.

Now here’s the same scatterplot but with one crucial difference. I set the coming year’s forecast against the just-completed year. The correlation is semi-strong (r-square of 0.59), but what’s striking is that the slope is negative.

What this means is that Wall Street’s forecasts don’t tell you much about the coming year, but they say a decent amount about the year that just ended. The downward slope means that historically, analysts have predicted a bad year will be followed by a mildly good one, and a good one will be followed by a mildly bad one.

In other words, these folks get paid tons of money to predict simple regression to the mean. What the equation means is that to be a Wall Street analyst, start with 10% as your baseline prediction. Then take whatever the market did last year and divide it by 5. Now subtract that from 10%, and presto, you now have your expert forecast (or at least 58% of the way there)!

Update on BCR/BDX
Eddy Elfenbein, December 28th, 2017 at 11:10 am

This should happen tomorrow. Here’s a press release from this morning:

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (BDX), a leading global medical technology company, issued the following statement regarding today’s clearance by the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (MOFCOM) for BD to acquire C. R. Bard (BCR), contingent on BD divesting its soft tissue core needle biopsy product line:

“MOFCOM clearance was the final regulatory approval needed to complete the Bard acquisition,” said Vincent A. Forlenza, chairman and CEO of BD. “We look forward to closing the transaction and welcoming Bard’s products and associates to the BD family.”

The proposed acquisition remains subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. BD and Bard currently expect the proposed acquisition to close on Friday, Dec. 29.

Separately, BD’s proposed divestiture of its soft tissue core needle biopsy product line to Merit Medical is conditioned on MOFCOM approval of Merit as the purchaser.