Should I Buy BAX? BAX 2026 Analysis

Should You Buy Baxter International Inc (BAX) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Conclusion

Hold

Latest Price

19.730

1 Day change

0.61%

52 Week Range

37.740

Analysis Updated At

2026/01/28

BAX is not a good buy right now for a beginner, long-term investor who is impatient about timing. The stock is in a bearish technical trend, options positioning leans defensive (puts > calls), fundamentals recently deteriorated (margin compression and a loss in 2025/Q3), and recent congressional activity is net selling. The next meaningful catalyst is the Q4 2025 earnings/guidance event (2026-02-12), but today’s setup does not justify an immediate long-term entry.

Technical Analysis

Price/Trend: Bearish. Moving averages are stacked negatively (SMA_200 > SMA_20 > SMA_5), indicating a persistent downtrend. Momentum: MACD histogram is negative (-0.0835) and expanding lower, suggesting downside momentum is still building. RSI: RSI(6) at ~41.9 is neutral-to-weak (not oversold), so there’s no strong “snap-back” signal yet. Levels: Pivot 19.853. Near-term support at 19.395 then 19.111; resistance at 20.311 then 20.595. With price ~19.64 (below pivot), the technical bias remains weak unless it reclaims ~19.85–20.31. Intellectia Proprietary Trading Signals - [AI Stock Picker](module://ai_stock_pick): No signal on given stock today. - [SwingMax](module://swingmax): No signal on given stock today.

Options Data

Bearish

Open Interest Put-Call Ratio

Bearish

Option Volume Put-Call Ratio

Sentiment: Bearish/defensive. Put open interest exceeds calls (put/call OI = 1.5) and put volume also exceeds call volume (put/call volume = 1.19), implying hedging or negative sentiment. Volatility: Implied vol (30D) ~45.75 vs historical vol ~52.1, with IV percentile ~81.2 (elevated vs its own history). Elevated IV often coincides with uncertainty into catalysts (here, upcoming earnings/guidance). Activity: Volume is elevated vs average (today vs 30D avg ~13.76x), reinforcing that the market is positioning actively rather than complacently.

Technical Summary

Sell

Buy

Positive Catalysts

- Upcoming earnings/guidance event: Q4 2025 earnings call on 2026-02-12 (pre-market) could act as a “clearing event” for outlook uncertainty.
- Some Street optimism remains: Barclays reiterates Overweight with a $30 PT, arguing uncertainty is already discounted and Q4/2026 outlook could lift shares.
- Broader MedTech backdrop cited by some analysts: improving procedure trends and potential sector rotation tailwinds into 2026.

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

- Prior dividend cut (from $0.68 to $0.
remains a negative signal for income-focused long-term holders and reflects cash flow prioritization.

Financial Performance

Latest quarter: 2025/Q3. Growth/Margins: Revenue rose to $2.835B (+5.04% YoY), but profitability weakened materially—net income was -$46M (down -132.86% YoY) and EPS was -$0.09 (down -133.33% YoY). Key issue: Gross margin fell to 34.39% (down -10.33% YoY), signaling cost/manufacturing/price-mix pressure. In short: top-line growth exists, but the trend in margins and earnings is currently negative, which is not ideal for an “easy” long-term entry today.

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

Recent trend: Price targets were mostly reduced after the Q3 update/dividend cut period (late Oct 2025), reflecting weaker near-term confidence (e.g., Citi/UBS/Goldman cuts; Argus downgrade). More recently (Jan 2026), views are mixed: Barclays kept Overweight and cut PT to $30 (still implying significant upside), Evercore kept Outperform with a slightly lower PT ($23), Goldman nudged PT up to $23 (Neutral), while Morgan Stanley remains Underweight (PT $15). Wall Street pros: (1) Some believe uncertainty is already priced in and that new guidance could re-rate the stock; (2) MedTech end-market recovery could help into 2026. Wall Street cons: (1) Margin pressure and earnings visibility concerns; (2) post-dividend-cut credibility/transition risk; (3) meaningful disagreement across firms (bullish vs underweight) indicates the story is not settled.

12 Analyst Rating

Wall Street analysts forecast BAX stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for BAX is 21.73 USD with a low forecast of 15 USD and a high forecast of 30 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

2 Buy

9 Hold

1 Sell

Hold

Current: 19.610

Low

Averages

21.73

High

Current: 19.610

Low

Averages

21.73

High

Barclays

Matt Miksic

Overweight

downgrade

$36 -> $30

AI Analysis

2026-01-09

Reason

Barclays

Matt Miksic

Price Target

$36 -> $30

AI Analysis

2026-01-09

downgrade

Overweight

Reason

Barclays analyst Matt Miksic lowered the firm's price target on Baxter to $30 from $36 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm updated the company's model. The uncertainty related to Baxter's outlook is "adequately discounted" in the shares, the analyst tells investors in a research note. Barclays expects the company's Q4 results and 2026 outlook to "help unwind this uncertainty and drive the stock higher."

Goldman Sachs

Neutral

maintain

$22 -> $23

2026-01-09

Reason

Goldman Sachs

Price Target

$22 -> $23

2026-01-09

maintain

Neutral

Reason

Goldman Sachs raised the firm's price target on Baxter to $23 from $22 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. After a year when fundamentals diverged from stock performance, 2026 should represent a return to normalized patterns where organic growth defines relative valuation, the analyst tells investors in a research note.

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BAX Should I Buy

BAX Should I Buy

Should You Buy Baxter International Inc (BAX) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Technical Analysis

Options Data

Technical Summary

Positive Catalysts

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

Financial Performance

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

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