Feb 25 (Reuters) - Henry Schein HSIC.O forecast annual profit below Wall Street estimates on Tuesday as the dental and medical products distributor faces tepid demand amid persistent inflation.

Higher prices have squeezed customer budgets, forcing them to cancel or postpone non-urgent procedures such as orthodontic treatments and higher-end restorative dental procedures.

In recent months, investors have pressured the company to compete better with larger distributors such as Cardinal Health CAH.N.

In January, private equity firm KKR KKR.N took a 12% stake in Henry Schein to become the company's largest non-index fund shareholder and reached a deal to add members to its board.

The 2025 outlook "highlights what remains a tough end market as well as sets the stage for Henry Schein to execute on its operational improvements, supported by its recent addition of KKR as a sizable investor and new Board additions," Leerink Partners analyst Michael Cherny said in a research note.

The company expects 2025 adjusted per-share profit in the range of $4.80 to $4.94, below analysts' estimates of $4.99, according to data compiled by LSEG.

"We expect 2025 to be the base year from which to grow and achieve our previously provided long-term goal of high-single digit to low-double digit earnings growth," CEO Stanley Bergman said in a statement on Tuesday.

The New York-based distributor expects annual sales growth of about 2% to 4% from $12.67 billion reported in 2024. Analysts estimated 2025 sales of $13.19 billion.

The company said it recorded restructuring costs of about $37 million in the quarter ended December 28.

Henry Schein posted a quarterly adjusted profit of $1.19 per share, missing estimates of $1.21 per share.

Sales at its newly announced global distribution unit, which supplies dental and medical equipment, among other items, rose 5.9% from a year ago to $2.7 billion.

The company's total quarterly revenue came in at $3.19 billion, compared with estimates of $3.29 billion.

(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole and Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)

((SiddhiPrabhanjan.Mahatole@thomsonreuters.com;))