Medtronic plc vs STRYKER CORP, two Medical Devices stocks. A side-by-side on valuation, growth, margins, returns, and what each price is betting.
Stryker at 38.5 times earnings is priced as med-tech's compounder; Medtronic at 21.7 as its pensioner, and the gap between those two sentences is seventeen turns on income statements that are closer than the prices imply: net margins of 13.2% both, to the decimal. Stryker earns the better returns, 14.5% on equity against 9.6%, and grows through acquisition with 0.64 turns of debt; Medtronic pays the 3.5% dividend from an essentially unlevered sheet and yields more cash, 5.2% against 3.6%. Identical bottom-line efficiency, opposite reputations: the market pays for Stryker's future and merely collects Medtronic's present. One of these prices is doing a lot of remembering.
Comparison updated 2026-07-10.
| Metric | MDT | SYK |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $80.98 | $332.30 |
| Market cap | $104.4B | $128.4B |
| Sector | Medical Devices | Medical Devices |
| Stage | Mature | Mature |
| Implied growth (priced in) | +3.2% | +23.7% |
| P/E | 21.7 | 38.5 |
| P/B | 2.09 | 5.59 |
| P/S | 2.87 | 5.08 |
| EV/EBITDA | 11.1 | 21.3 |
| Revenue growth | +8.4% | +8.8% |
| Gross margin | — | 63.3% |
| Operating margin | 19.1% | 15.6% |
| Net margin | 13.2% | 13.2% |
| Return on equity | 9.6% | 14.5% |
| Return on assets | 5.2% | 7.2% |
| Return on invested capital | 8.6% | 11.6% |
| FCF yield | 5.2% | 3.6% |
| Dividend yield | 3.5% | 0.5% |
| Debt / equity | 0.04 | 0.64 |
| Current ratio | 2.13 | 2.11 |
| Altman Z (solvency) | 2.58 | 4.73 |
| Piotroski F (quality) | 7 / 9 | 5 / 9 |
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The stronger value is highlighted per metric where one is strictly better on that single number; it is not an overall verdict on either company. For informational and research purposes only. Not investment advice. Not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security. boothcheck is not a registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results.