BDX vs ALC vs RVP Stock Comparison

Becton Dickinson, Alcon and Retractable Technologies Prices as of Oct 27, 2026 Peers: Industry group
BDX Becton Dickinson & Co
$194.95 +6.1% 1M +4.2% 1Y
Market cap
$53.49B
P/E
56.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$23.25B
Div. yield
–
Medical Supplies Healthcare
6 wins
ALC Alcon Inc
$69.42 +7.7% 1M -8.8% 1Y
Market cap
$34.36B
P/E
53.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$10.80B
Div. yield
–
Medical Devices Healthcare
4 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Becton Dickinson leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Becton Dickinson 6, Alcon 4, Retractable Technologies 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionBDXALCRVPLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $53.49B $34.36B $17.38M BDX
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 56.8x 53.4x -4.8x ALC
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 15.0x 21.6x — BDX
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +17.4% +8.5% -11.2% BDX
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 4.0% 6.0% -10.6% ALC
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 5.3% 3.6% -31.4% BDX
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 3.2x — 2.6x RVP
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +4.2% -8.8% -37.2% BDX
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -4.0%/yr -3.5%/yr -42.8%/yr ALC
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 31.9% 28.6% 40.3% ALC
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 68/100 68/100 53/100 BDX

Percentile Scorecard

BDXALCRVP

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

AxisBDXALCRVP
Valuation 90 #23 of 227 79 #48 of 227 73 #63 of 227
Growth 49 #113 of 219 48 #114 of 219 34 #144 of 219
Profitability 79 #45 of 206 76 #50 of 206 39 #126 of 206
Financial Health 27 #175 of 238 60 #96 of 238 65 #85 of 238
Shareholder Returns 96 #7 of 134 74 #35 of 134 –
Overall 68 68 53
  • BDX ranked among 247 companies in Medical Devices and Diagnostics
  • ALC ranked among 247 companies in Medical Devices and Diagnostics
  • RVP ranked among 247 companies in Medical Devices and Diagnostics

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodBDXALCRVPSPY
1 month +6.1%+7.7%-14.7% -0.2%
3 months +17.2%+0.4%-13.4% +3.9%
6 months +30.4%-7.9%-7.0% +8.2%
Year to date +0.5%-11.9%-24.9% +12.9%
1 year +4.2%-8.8%-37.2% +12.3%
3 years -22.5%-0.9%-45.3% +87.4%
3 years, per year -8.2%-0.3%-18.2% +23.3%
5 years -18.3%-16.1%-93.9% +67.9%
5 years, per year -4.0%-3.5%-42.8% +10.9%
10 years +16.6%—-76.8% +261.1%
10 years, per year +1.5%—-13.6% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureBDXALCRVPSPY
Volatility, 1Y 31.9%28.6%40.3% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 33.0%28.8%44.7% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.340.380.16 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.13-0.31-0.92 0.97
Max drawdown, 5Y -50.4%-38.4%-94.0% -25.4%
From 52-week high -7.2%-20.4%-37.2% -1.2%
52-week high $210.02$87.18$0.92 $779.14
52-week low $140.71$62.02$0.58 $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.

MultipleBDXALCRVP
P/E now vs peer median 56.9xmedian 29.6x 53.2xmedian 29.6x -4.8xmedian 29.6x
P/S now vs peer median 2.3xmedian 2.9x 3.1xmedian 2.9x 0.5xmedian 2.9x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 13.9xmedian 17.4x —median 17.4x 1.5xmedian 17.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 16.6xmedian 22.3x 19.4xmedian 22.3x -3.4xmedian 22.3x
P/B now vs peer median 2.2xmedian 2.3x 1.6xmedian 2.3x 0.2xmedian 2.3x
PEG now vs peer median -3.90median 1.04 2.54median 1.04 0.22median 1.04

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 monthsBDXALCRVP
Revenue $23.25B $10.80B $33.90M
Gross profit $10.91B $6.17B -$491.51K
Operating income $2.48B $948.00M -$22.68M
Net income $941.00M $643.00M -$3.37M
Free cash flow $3.20B $1.74B -$5.11M
R&D $1.37B $1.43B $682.03K
EPS (diluted) $3.42 $1.30 $-0.12
Cash & equivalents $708.00M $1.36B $2.64M
Total debt $72.81B $4.72B $3.40M
Shares (diluted) 275.16M 496.20M 29.94M
Enterprise value $50.64B $25.32B -$129.03M

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
MetricBDXALCRVP
P/E 56.9x 53.2x -4.8x
P/FCF 16.6x 19.4x -3.4x
P/Operating cash flow 13.4x 14.6x -3.5x
P/S 2.3x 3.1x 0.5x
P/B 2.2x 1.6x 0.2x
P/Tangible book 2.2x 2.5x 0.2x
EV/EBITDA 13.9x – 1.5x
EV/EBIT 27.9x 38.4x 1.0x
EV/Revenue 3.0x 3.4x -0.6x
EV/FCF 21.6x 20.9x 4.3x
EV/Operating cash flow 17.5x 15.8x 4.4x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -3.90 2.54 0.22

Growth

14 metrics
MetricBDXALCRVP
Revenue growth (1Y) 17.4% 8.5% -11.2%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 6.9% 5.9% -14.7%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 23.7% 11.7% 81.2%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 8.5% 7.3% -26.8%
Operating income growth (1Y) 13.0% -34.3% -2.3%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 3.3% 7.5% -11.7%
Net income growth (1Y) -40.6% -40.1% 61.4%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -17.3% 21.1% -23.9%
EPS growth (1Y) -38.0% -40.7% 59.8%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -14.6% 21.0% -21.9%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 43.5% 10.3% 58.8%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 14.5% 25.9% -16.8%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 54.2% 7.5% 62.3%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 22.5% 48.0% 20.0%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricBDXALCRVP
Gross margin 46.9% 57.2% -1.4%
EBITDA margin 21.4% – -43.9%
Operating margin 10.7% 8.8% -66.9%
Pretax margin 8.4% 6.9% -9.9%
Net margin 4.0% 6.0% -10.6%
FCF margin 13.8% 16.1% -15.1%
Operating cash flow margin 17.0% 21.4% -14.6%
Return on equity 3.9% 2.9% -4.7%
Return on assets 1.9% 2.1% -2.4%
Return on invested capital 5.3% 3.6% -31.4%
Return on capital employed 6.0% 3.4% -18.0%
Asset turnover 0.5x 0.3x 0.2x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 4.2x 3.6x 1.5x
Stock comp / revenue 1.2% 1.6% –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricBDXALCRVP
Debt / assets 33.1% 15.2% 0.5%
Debt / equity 0.7x 0.2x 0.0x
Net debt / EBITDA 3.2x – 2.6x
Debt / FCF 5.2x 2.7x -0.1x
Liabilities / assets 51.9% 30.6% 48.6%
Equity / assets 48.1% 69.4% 51.4%
Interest coverage 4.2x 9.2x -278.8x
Current ratio 0.9x 2.1x 4.9x
Quick ratio 0.3x 1.3x 3.7x
Cash ratio 0.1x 0.7x 3.0x
Altman Z-score 2.28 – 0.43

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricBDXALCRVP
Dividend yield 2.2% 0.4% –
Net buyback yield 4.7% 2.7% –
Shareholder yield 6.9% 3.1% –
Payout ratio (earnings) – – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – –

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.

ConsensusBDXALCRVP
Forward P/E 15.0xFY2026 21.6xFY2026 –
EPS, next fiscal year $12.99FY2026 $3.22FY2026 –
EPS growth, next FY +14.8%FY2026 +7.7%FY2026 –
EPS growth, the year after -2.9% +15.5% –
Revenue, next fiscal year $18.11BFY2026 $10.50BFY2026 –
Revenue growth, next FY -17.1%FY2026 +4.3%FY2026 –
Revenue growth, the year after +11.6% +8.1% –

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersBDXALCRVP
Held by institutions 96.1% 48.8% 8.8%
Institutions holding 1,442 629 32
Change in shares held, QoQ +0.6% +5.3% +5.9%
Institutions buying 688 225 10
Institutions selling 543 274 4
Buyers to sellers 1.27 0.82 2.50

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.

BDXALCRVP
BDX 1.00 0.30 0.01
ALC 0.30 1.00 0.14
RVP 0.01 0.14 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, BDX, ALC and RVP?

Becton Dickinson (BDX) is the largest by market capitalisation: Becton Dickinson (BDX) $53.49B, Alcon (ALC) $34.36B, Retractable Technologies (RVP) $17.38M.

Which stock is cheaper, BDX, ALC and RVP?

Alcon (ALC) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Becton Dickinson (BDX) 56.8x, Alcon (ALC) 53.4x, Retractable Technologies (RVP) -4.8x). On next year's consensus earnings, Becton Dickinson (BDX) is cheapest (Becton Dickinson (BDX) 15.0x, Alcon (ALC) 21.6x). 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: Becton Dickinson (BDX) +17.4%, Alcon (ALC) +8.5%, Retractable Technologies (RVP) -11.2%.

Which company is more profitable?

Alcon (ALC) has the highest net margin (Becton Dickinson (BDX) 4.0%, Alcon (ALC) 6.0%, Retractable Technologies (RVP) -10.6%). On return on invested capital, Becton Dickinson (BDX) leads (Becton Dickinson (BDX) 5.3%, Alcon (ALC) 3.6%, Retractable Technologies (RVP) -31.4%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Becton Dickinson (BDX) returned the most: Becton Dickinson (BDX) +4.2%, Alcon (ALC) -8.8%, Retractable Technologies (RVP) -37.2%. Over five years, Alcon (ALC) compounded fastest (Becton Dickinson (BDX) -4.0%/yr, Alcon (ALC) -3.5%/yr, Retractable Technologies (RVP) -42.8%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Alcon (ALC) has been the steadiest (Becton Dickinson (BDX) 31.9%, Alcon (ALC) 28.6%, Retractable Technologies (RVP) 40.3%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

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

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Becton Dickinson (BDX) 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.