ALC vs BDX vs MCK Stock Comparison

Alcon, Becton Dickinson and Mckesson Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
ALC Alcon Inc
$70.00 +8.6% 1M -8.0% 1Y
Market cap
$34.24B
P/E
53.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$10.80B
Div. yield
–
Medical Devices Healthcare
3 wins
BDX Becton Dickinson & Co
$196.39 +6.8% 1M +5.7% 1Y
Market cap
$53.61B
P/E
57.0x
Revenue (TTM)
$23.25B
Div. yield
–
Medical Supplies Healthcare
2 wins
MCK Mckesson Corp
$992.64 +14.5% 1M +23.8% 1Y
Market cap
$114.87B
P/E
25.0x
Revenue (TTM)
$410.98B
Div. yield
0.00%
Drug Distribution Healthcare
6 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Mckesson leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Mckesson 6, Alcon 3, Becton Dickinson 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionALCBDXMCKLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $34.24B $53.61B $114.87B MCK
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 53.3x 57.0x 25.0x MCK
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 21.7x 15.1x 21.1x BDX
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +8.5% +17.4% +8.8% BDX
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 6.0% 4.0% 1.1% ALC
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 3.6% 5.3% 107.9% MCK
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — 3.2x 0.6x MCK
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -8.0% +5.7% +23.8% MCK
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -3.0%/yr -4.3%/yr +37.4%/yr MCK
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 28.7% 31.9% 30.7% ALC
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 68/100 67/100 58/100 ALC

Percentile Scorecard

ALCBDXMCK

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisALCBDXMCK
Valuation 79 #48 of 228 90 #24 of 228 50 #13 of 25
Growth 47 #118 of 221 47 #117 of 221 65 #9 of 24
Profitability 76 #50 of 208 78 #46 of 208 65 #9 of 24
Financial Health 61 #95 of 239 27 #176 of 239 48 #14 of 26
Shareholder Returns 75 #35 of 137 95 #8 of 137 60 #7 of 16
Overall 68 67 58
  • ALC ranked among 248 companies in Medical Devices and Diagnostics
  • BDX ranked among 248 companies in Medical Devices and Diagnostics
  • MCK ranked among 27 companies in Healthcare Payers and Distributors

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodALCBDXMCKSPY
1 month +8.6%+6.8%+14.5% -0.8%
3 months +4.1%+23.6%+16.7% +3.5%
6 months -7.9%+30.7%+19.8% +7.0%
Year to date -11.2%+1.2%+21.0% +12.2%
1 year -8.0%+5.7%+23.8% +13.0%
3 years 0.0%-21.9%+121.6% +86.3%
3 years, per year 0.0%-7.9%+30.4% +23.1%
5 years -14.3%-19.8%+388.9% +68.6%
5 years, per year -3.0%-4.3%+37.4% +11.0%
10 years —+17.2%+526.0% +258.0%
10 years, per year —+1.6%+20.1% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureALCBDXMCKSPY
Volatility, 1Y 28.7%31.9%30.7% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 28.9%33.1%27.3% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.380.34-0.26 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.280.180.78 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -38.4%-50.4%-27.2% -25.4%
From 52-week high -19.7%-6.5%-3.6% -1.8%
52-week high $87.18$210.02$1,030.18 $779.14
52-week low $62.02$140.71$725.17 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleALCBDXMCK
P/E now vs peer median 53.7xmedian 30.6x 57.3xmedian 30.6x 25.7xmedian 24.3x
P/S now vs peer median 3.2xmedian 3.0x 2.3xmedian 3.0x 0.3xmedian 0.3x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 17.5x 14.0xmedian 17.5x 16.6xmedian 13.5x
P/FCF now vs peer median 19.6xmedian 23.3x 16.7xmedian 23.3x 18.0xmedian 15.6x
P/B now vs peer median 1.6xmedian 2.4x 2.2xmedian 2.4x -27.3xmedian 2.5x
PEG now vs peer median 2.56median 0.87 -3.93median 0.87 2.15median 1.33

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsALCBDXMCK
Revenue $10.80B $23.25B $410.98B
Gross profit $6.17B $10.91B $14.96B
Operating income $948.00M $2.48B $6.50B
Net income $643.00M $941.00M $5.30B
Free cash flow $1.74B $3.20B $6.42B
R&D $1.43B $1.37B –
EPS (diluted) $1.30 $3.42 $38.52
Cash & equivalents $1.36B $708.00M $5.16B
Total debt $4.72B $72.81B $9.73B
Shares (diluted) 496.20M 275.16M 119.20M
Enterprise value $25.21B $50.76B $98.77B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricALCBDXMCK
P/E 53.7x 57.3x 25.7x
P/FCF 19.6x 16.7x 18.0x
P/Operating cash flow 14.8x 13.5x 16.9x
P/S 3.2x 2.3x 0.3x
P/B 1.6x 2.2x -27.3x
P/Tangible book 2.6x 2.2x -14.0x
EV/EBITDA – 14.0x 16.6x
EV/EBIT 38.7x 28.0x 18.5x
EV/Revenue 3.4x 3.0x 0.3x
EV/FCF 21.1x 21.7x 18.8x
EV/Operating cash flow 15.9x 17.6x 17.6x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 2.56 -3.93 2.15

Growth

14 metrics
MetricALCBDXMCK
Revenue growth (1Y) 8.5% 17.4% 8.8%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 5.9% 6.9% 13.1%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 11.7% 23.7% 11.2%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 7.3% 8.5% 6.6%
Operating income growth (1Y) -34.3% 13.0% 46.6%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 7.5% 3.3% 13.5%
Net income growth (1Y) -40.1% -40.6% 58.1%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 21.1% -17.3% 10.7%
EPS growth (1Y) -40.7% -38.0% 52.8%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 21.0% -14.6% 12.0%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 10.3% 43.5% 4.7%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 25.9% 14.5% 10.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 7.5% 54.2% 6.8%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 48.0% 22.5% 11.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricALCBDXMCK
Gross margin 57.2% 46.9% 3.6%
EBITDA margin – 21.4% 1.8%
Operating margin 8.8% 10.7% 1.6%
Pretax margin 6.9% 8.4% 1.6%
Net margin 6.0% 4.0% 1.1%
FCF margin 16.1% 13.8% 1.6%
Operating cash flow margin 21.4% 17.0% 1.7%
Return on equity 2.9% 3.9% –
Return on assets 2.1% 1.9% 6.2%
Return on invested capital 3.6% 5.3% 107.9%
Return on capital employed 3.4% 6.0% 43.4%
Asset turnover 0.3x 0.5x 4.8x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 3.6x 4.2x 1.3x
Stock comp / revenue 1.6% 1.2% –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricALCBDXMCK
Debt / assets 15.2% 33.1% 11.0%
Debt / equity 0.2x 0.7x -2.3x
Net debt / EBITDA – 3.2x 0.6x
Debt / FCF 2.7x 5.2x 1.5x
Liabilities / assets 30.6% 51.9% 104.8%
Equity / assets 69.4% 48.1% -4.8%
Interest coverage 9.2x 4.2x 23.6x
Current ratio 2.1x 0.9x 0.9x
Quick ratio 1.3x 0.3x 0.5x
Cash ratio 0.7x 0.1x 0.1x
Altman Z-score – 2.29 5.90

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricALCBDXMCK
Dividend yield 0.4% 2.1% 0.3%
Net buyback yield 2.7% 4.7% 5.7%
Shareholder yield 3.1% 6.8% 6.1%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – 7.4%
Payout ratio (FCF) – – 6.1%
Dividend growth (1Y) – – 11.3%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – 10.0%

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusALCBDXMCK
Forward P/E 21.7xFY2026 15.1xFY2026 21.1xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $3.22FY2026 $12.99FY2026 $47.15FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +7.7%FY2026 +14.8%FY2026 +20.6%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +15.5% -2.9% +11.0%
Revenue, next fiscal year $10.50BFY2026 $18.11BFY2026 $444.47BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +4.3%FY2026 -17.1%FY2026 +10.2%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +8.1% +11.6% +1.5%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersALCBDXMCK
Held by institutions 48.8% 96.1% 89.1%
Institutions holding 629 1,442 2,007
Change in shares held, QoQ +5.3% +0.6% -0.7%
Institutions buying 225 688 879
Institutions selling 274 543 791
Buyers to sellers 0.82 1.27 1.11

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

ALCBDXMCK
ALC 1.00 0.30 0.29
BDX 0.30 1.00 0.24
MCK 0.29 0.24 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ALC, BDX and MCK?

Mckesson (MCK) is the largest by market capitalisation: Alcon (ALC) $34.24B, Becton Dickinson (BDX) $53.61B, Mckesson (MCK) $114.87B.

Which stock is cheaper, ALC, BDX and MCK?

Mckesson (MCK) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Alcon (ALC) 53.3x, Becton Dickinson (BDX) 57.0x, Mckesson (MCK) 25.0x). On next year's consensus earnings, Becton Dickinson (BDX) is cheapest (Alcon (ALC) 21.7x, Becton Dickinson (BDX) 15.1x, Mckesson (MCK) 21.1x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Becton Dickinson (BDX) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Alcon (ALC) +8.5%, Becton Dickinson (BDX) +17.4%, Mckesson (MCK) +8.8%.

Which company is more profitable?

Alcon (ALC) has the highest net margin (Alcon (ALC) 6.0%, Becton Dickinson (BDX) 4.0%, Mckesson (MCK) 1.1%). On return on invested capital, Mckesson (MCK) leads (Alcon (ALC) 3.6%, Becton Dickinson (BDX) 5.3%, Mckesson (MCK) 107.9%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Mckesson (MCK) returned the most: Alcon (ALC) -8.0%, Becton Dickinson (BDX) +5.7%, Mckesson (MCK) +23.8%. Over five years, Mckesson (MCK) compounded fastest (Alcon (ALC) -3.0%/yr, Becton Dickinson (BDX) -4.3%/yr, Mckesson (MCK) +37.4%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Alcon (ALC) 0.00%, Becton Dickinson (BDX) 0.00%, Mckesson (MCK) 0.00%. Alcon (ALC) and Becton Dickinson (BDX) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Alcon (ALC) has been the steadiest (Alcon (ALC) 28.7%, Becton Dickinson (BDX) 31.9%, Mckesson (MCK) 30.7%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, ALC, BDX and MCK?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Mckesson (MCK) leads on 6. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.