BSX vs ALC vs STE Stock Comparison

Boston Scientific, Alcon and Steris Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
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BSX Boston Scientific Corp
$42.68 -2.8% 1M -57.4% 1Y
Market cap
$61.64B
P/E
17.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$21.07B
Div. yield
–
Medical Devices Healthcare
4 wins
ALC Alcon Inc
$71.18 +8.8% 1M -3.3% 1Y
Market cap
$35.24B
P/E
54.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$10.80B
Div. yield
–
Medical Devices Healthcare
STE STERIS plc
$232.24 +10.2% 1M -1.9% 1Y
Market cap
$22.08B
P/E
27.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$6.04B
Div. yield
0.01%
Medical Devices Healthcare
6 wins

Head to Head

10 decided of 12

Steris leads on 6 of the 12 questions below (Steris 6, Boston Scientific 4). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionBSXALCSTELeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $61.64B $35.24B $22.08B BSX
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 17.6x 54.8x 27.4x BSX
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 13.7x 22.1x 20.1x BSX
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +8.9% +8.5% +8.4% BSX
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months — 6.0% 13.3% STE
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — 3.6% 9.3% STE
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — — 0.9x –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.01% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -57.4% -3.3% -1.9% STE
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -0.2%/yr -3.1%/yr -0.1%/yr STE
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 40.3% 28.6% 26.2% STE
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers — 68/100 76/100 STE

Percentile Scorecard

BSXALCSTE

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

AxisBSXALCSTE
Valuation 86 #32 of 227 79 #48 of 227 84 #38 of 227
Growth 71 #64 of 218 48 #113 of 218 71 #63 of 218
Profitability – 78 #46 of 202 90 #22 of 202
Financial Health – 60 #95 of 233 62 #89 of 233
Shareholder Returns – 76 #32 of 130 74 #34 of 130
Overall – 68 76
  • BSX ranked among 247 companies in Medical Devices and Diagnostics
  • ALC ranked among 247 companies in Medical Devices and Diagnostics
  • STE 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

PeriodBSXALCSTESPY
1 month -2.8%+8.8%+10.2% +0.7%
3 months -7.2%+2.3%+0.4% +3.7%
6 months -25.9%-4.9%+7.1% +7.1%
Year to date -55.2%-9.7%-8.4% +12.8%
1 year -57.4%-3.3%-1.9% +11.9%
3 years -14.7%+1.1%+11.1% +85.2%
3 years, per year -5.2%+0.4%+3.6% +22.8%
5 years -1.0%-14.6%-0.6% +67.6%
5 years, per year -0.2%-3.1%-0.1% +10.9%
10 years +93.2%—+247.0% +262.0%
10 years, per year +6.8%—+13.3% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureBSXALCSTESPY
Volatility, 1Y 40.3%28.6%26.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 47.8%28.8%25.6% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.130.380.39 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -1.43-0.12-0.07 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -61.6%-38.4%-36.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -59.3%-18.4%-13.6% -1.2%
52-week high $104.98$87.18$268.65 $779.14
52-week low $41.57$62.02$199.40 $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.

MultipleBSXALCSTE
P/E now vs peer median 17.9xmedian 28.7x 54.6xmedian 28.7x 28.2xmedian 28.7x
P/S now vs peer median 2.9xmedian 3.0x 3.2xmedian 3.0x 3.8xmedian 3.0x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 17.8x —median 17.8x 14.7xmedian 17.8x
P/FCF now vs peer median 17.6xmedian 26.4x 19.9xmedian 26.4x 24.5xmedian 26.4x
P/B now vs peer median —median 2.4x 1.6xmedian 2.4x 3.1xmedian 2.4x
PEG now vs peer median 0.41median 0.99 2.60median 0.99 0.31median 0.99

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 monthsBSXALCSTE
Revenue $21.07B $10.80B $6.04B
Gross profit $14.57B $6.17B $2.68B
Operating income $3.93B $948.00M $1.14B
Net income – $643.00M $808.10M
Free cash flow – $1.74B $925.60M
R&D $2.16B $1.43B $115.10M
EPS (diluted) $2.37 $1.30 $8.22
Cash & equivalents – $1.36B $482.30M
Total debt – $4.72B $1.89B
Shares (diluted) 1.47B 496.20M 97.90M
Enterprise value $61.64B $26.21B $20.42B

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
MetricBSXALCSTE
P/E 17.9x 54.6x 28.2x
P/FCF 17.6x 19.9x 24.5x
P/Operating cash flow – 15.0x 17.6x
P/S 2.9x 3.2x 3.8x
P/B – 1.6x 3.1x
P/Tangible book – 2.6x 4.0x
EV/EBITDA – – 14.7x
EV/EBIT – 39.3x 21.1x
EV/Revenue 2.9x 3.5x 4.0x
EV/FCF – 21.4x 26.0x
EV/Operating cash flow – 16.1x 18.7x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.41 2.60 0.31

Growth

14 metrics
MetricBSXALCSTE
Revenue growth (1Y) 8.9% 8.5% 8.4%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 15.3% 5.9% 9.0%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 9.8% 11.7% 9.1%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 15.1% 7.3% 9.6%
Operating income growth (1Y) 13.5% -34.3% 23.1%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 22.1% 7.5% 11.2%
Net income growth (1Y) – -40.1% 24.6%
Net income CAGR (3Y) – 21.1% 89.1%
EPS growth (1Y) 27.2% -40.7% 25.7%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 43.2% 21.0% 89.8%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) – 10.3% 1.9%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) – 25.9% 16.9%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) – 7.5% 1.8%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) – 48.0% 23.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricBSXALCSTE
Gross margin – 57.2% 44.4%
EBITDA margin – – 27.0%
Operating margin – 8.8% 18.9%
Pretax margin – 6.9% 18.0%
Net margin – 6.0% 13.3%
FCF margin – 16.1% 15.3%
Operating cash flow margin – 21.4% 21.3%
Return on equity – 2.9% 11.2%
Return on assets – 2.1% 7.5%
Return on invested capital – 3.6% 9.3%
Return on capital employed – 3.4% 12.1%
Asset turnover – 0.3x 0.6x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) – 3.6x 1.6x
Stock comp / revenue – 1.6% 1.0%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricBSXALCSTE
Debt / assets – 15.2% 17.6%
Debt / equity – 0.2x 0.3x
Net debt / EBITDA – – 0.9x
Debt / FCF – 2.7x 2.0x
Liabilities / assets – 30.6% 32.7%
Equity / assets – 69.4% 67.3%
Interest coverage – 9.2x 18.8x
Current ratio – 2.1x 1.9x
Quick ratio – 1.3x 1.2x
Cash ratio – 0.7x 0.4x
Altman Z-score – – 5.32

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricBSXALCSTE
Dividend yield – 0.4% 1.1%
Net buyback yield – 2.6% 1.5%
Shareholder yield – 3.0% 2.6%
Payout ratio (earnings) – – 30.6%
Payout ratio (FCF) – – 26.7%
Dividend growth (1Y) – – 9.9%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – – 9.7%

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.

ConsensusBSXALCSTE
Forward P/E 13.7xFY2026 22.1xFY2026 20.1xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $3.12FY2026 $3.22FY2026 $11.56FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +2.0%FY2026 +7.7%FY2026 +13.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +14.7% +15.5% +13.2%
Revenue, next fiscal year $20.67BFY2026 $10.50BFY2026 $6.62BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +3.0%FY2026 +4.3%FY2026 +11.5%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +1.6% +8.1% -0.3%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersBSXALCSTE
Held by institutions 90.5% 48.8% 97.1%
Institutions holding 1,482 630 830
Change in shares held, QoQ -0.7% +5.3% +1.1%
Institutions buying 739 226 406
Institutions selling 610 274 300
Buyers to sellers 1.21 0.82 1.35

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.

BSXALCSTE
BSX 1.00 0.28 0.29
ALC 0.28 1.00 0.54
STE 0.29 0.54 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, BSX, ALC and STE?

Boston Scientific (BSX) is the largest by market capitalisation: Boston Scientific (BSX) $61.64B, Alcon (ALC) $35.24B, Steris (STE) $22.08B.

Which stock is cheaper, BSX, ALC and STE?

Boston Scientific (BSX) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Boston Scientific (BSX) 17.6x, Alcon (ALC) 54.8x, Steris (STE) 27.4x). On next year's consensus earnings, Boston Scientific (BSX) is cheapest (Boston Scientific (BSX) 13.7x, Alcon (ALC) 22.1x, Steris (STE) 20.1x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Boston Scientific (BSX) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Boston Scientific (BSX) +8.9%, Alcon (ALC) +8.5%, Steris (STE) +8.4%.

Which company is more profitable?

Steris (STE) has the highest net margin (Alcon (ALC) 6.0%, Steris (STE) 13.3%). On return on invested capital, Steris (STE) leads (Alcon (ALC) 3.6%, Steris (STE) 9.3%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Steris (STE) returned the most: Boston Scientific (BSX) -57.4%, Alcon (ALC) -3.3%, Steris (STE) -1.9%. Over five years, Steris (STE) compounded fastest (Boston Scientific (BSX) -0.2%/yr, Alcon (ALC) -3.1%/yr, Steris (STE) -0.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Boston Scientific (BSX) 0.00%, Alcon (ALC) 0.00%, Steris (STE) 0.01%. Boston Scientific (BSX) and Alcon (ALC) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Steris (STE) has been the steadiest (Boston Scientific (BSX) 40.3%, Alcon (ALC) 28.6%, Steris (STE) 26.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, BSX, ALC and STE?

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