BSX vs ISRG vs STE Stock Comparison

Boston Scientific, Intuitive Surgical 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
$61.85B
P/E
17.9x
Revenue (TTM)
$21.07B
Div. yield
–
Medical Devices Healthcare
2 wins
ISRG Intuitive Surgical Inc
$448.76 +8.9% 1M -16.5% 1Y
Market cap
$155.54B
P/E
53.0x
Revenue (TTM)
$11.58B
Div. yield
–
Medical Devices Healthcare
5 wins
STE STERIS plc
$232.24 +10.2% 1M -1.9% 1Y
Market cap
$22.64B
P/E
28.2x
Revenue (TTM)
$6.04B
Div. yield
1.11%
Medical Devices Healthcare
2 wins

Head to Head

9 decided of 12

Intuitive Surgical leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Intuitive Surgical 5, Boston Scientific 2, Steris 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionBSXISRGSTELeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $61.85B $155.54B $22.64B ISRG
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 17.9x 53.0x 28.2x BSX
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 13.7x 39.1x 20.1x BSX
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +8.9% +20.5% +8.4% ISRG
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months — 25.5% 13.3% ISRG
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — — 9.3% –
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — — 0.9x –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield — — 1.11% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -57.4% -16.5% -1.9% STE
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -0.2%/yr +4.4%/yr -0.1%/yr ISRG
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 40.3% 34.6% 26.2% STE
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers — 80/100 76/100 ISRG

Percentile Scorecard

BSXISRGSTE

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

AxisBSXISRGSTE
Valuation 86 #32 of 227 53 #107 of 227 84 #38 of 227
Growth 71 #64 of 218 80 #44 of 218 71 #63 of 218
Profitability – 98 #6 of 202 90 #22 of 202
Financial Health – 77 #54 of 233 62 #89 of 233
Shareholder Returns – 91 #13 of 130 74 #34 of 130
Overall – 80 76
  • BSX ranked among 247 companies in Medical Devices and Diagnostics
  • ISRG 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

PeriodBSXISRGSTESPY
1 month -2.8%+8.9%+10.2% +0.7%
3 months -7.2%+27.1%+0.4% +3.7%
6 months -25.9%-1.9%+7.1% +7.1%
Year to date -55.2%-20.8%-8.4% +12.8%
1 year -57.4%-16.5%-1.9% +11.9%
3 years -14.7%+73.6%+11.1% +85.2%
3 years, per year -5.2%+20.2%+3.6% +22.8%
5 years -1.0%+24.3%-0.6% +67.6%
5 years, per year -0.2%+4.4%-0.1% +10.9%
10 years +93.2%+505.9%+247.0% +262.0%
10 years, per year +6.8%+19.7%+13.3% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureBSXISRGSTESPY
Volatility, 1Y 40.3%34.6%26.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 47.8%37.5%25.6% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.130.890.39 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -1.43-0.48-0.07 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -61.6%-49.9%-36.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -59.3%-24.3%-13.6% -1.2%
52-week high $104.98$592.85$268.65 $779.14
52-week low $41.57$332.02$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.

MultipleBSXISRGSTE
P/E now vs peer median 17.9xmedian 28.7x 53.0xmedian 28.7x 28.2xmedian 28.7x
P/S now vs peer median 2.9xmedian 3.0x 13.4xmedian 3.0x 3.8xmedian 3.0x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median —median 17.8x 37.0xmedian 17.8x 14.7xmedian 17.8x
P/FCF now vs peer median 17.6xmedian 26.4x 43.2xmedian 26.4x 24.5xmedian 26.4x
P/B now vs peer median —median 2.4x 9.7xmedian 2.4x 3.1xmedian 2.4x
PEG now vs peer median 0.41median 0.99 2.06median 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 monthsBSXISRGSTE
Revenue $21.07B $11.58B $6.04B
Gross profit $14.57B $7.78B $2.68B
Operating income $3.93B $3.28B $1.14B
Net income – $2.97B $808.10M
Free cash flow – $3.60B $925.60M
R&D $2.16B $1.49B $115.10M
EPS (diluted) $2.37 $8.41 $8.22
Cash & equivalents – $2.98B $482.30M
Total debt – – $1.89B
Shares (diluted) 1.47B 351.60M 97.90M
Enterprise value $61.85B $135.96B $20.99B

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
MetricBSXISRGSTE
P/E 17.9x 53.0x 28.2x
P/FCF 17.6x 43.2x 24.5x
P/Operating cash flow – 38.0x 17.6x
P/S 2.9x 13.4x 3.8x
P/B – 9.7x 3.1x
P/Tangible book – 10.4x 4.0x
EV/EBITDA – 37.0x 14.7x
EV/EBIT – 46.1x 21.1x
EV/Revenue 2.9x 13.1x 4.0x
EV/FCF – 42.1x 26.0x
EV/Operating cash flow – 37.0x 18.7x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 0.41 2.06 0.31

Growth

14 metrics
MetricBSXISRGSTE
Revenue growth (1Y) 8.9% 20.5% 8.4%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 15.3% 19.1% 9.0%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 9.8% 21.9% 9.1%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 15.1% 19.5% 9.6%
Operating income growth (1Y) 13.5% 16.6% 23.1%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 22.1% 24.8% 11.2%
Net income growth (1Y) – 7.5% 24.6%
Net income CAGR (3Y) – 24.4% 89.1%
EPS growth (1Y) 27.2% 10.8% 25.7%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 43.2% 25.7% 89.8%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) – 38.1% 1.9%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) – 26.4% 16.9%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) – 58.4% 1.8%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) – 42.0% 23.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricBSXISRGSTE
Gross margin – 67.2% 44.4%
EBITDA margin – 35.3% 27.0%
Operating margin – 28.4% 18.9%
Pretax margin – 31.3% 18.0%
Net margin – 25.5% 13.3%
FCF margin – 31.1% 15.3%
Operating cash flow margin – 35.3% 21.3%
Return on equity – 17.3% 11.2%
Return on assets – 14.8% 7.5%
Return on invested capital – – 9.3%
Return on capital employed – 18.7% 12.1%
Asset turnover – 0.6x 0.6x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) – 1.4x 1.6x
Stock comp / revenue – 7.2% 1.0%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricBSXISRGSTE
Debt / assets – – 17.6%
Debt / equity – – 0.3x
Net debt / EBITDA – – 0.9x
Debt / FCF – – 2.0x
Liabilities / assets – 16.7% 32.7%
Equity / assets – 83.3% 67.3%
Interest coverage – – 18.8x
Current ratio – 3.3x 1.9x
Quick ratio – 2.3x 1.2x
Cash ratio – 1.6x 0.4x
Altman Z-score – 30.73 5.32

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricBSXISRGSTE
Dividend yield – – 1.1%
Net buyback yield – 2.7% 1.5%
Shareholder yield – 2.7% 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.

ConsensusBSXISRGSTE
Forward P/E 13.7xFY2026 39.1xFY2026 20.1xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $3.12FY2026 $11.47FY2026 $11.56FY2026
EPS growth, next FY +2.0%FY2026 +28.4%FY2026 +13.7%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +14.7% +4.5% +13.2%
Revenue, next fiscal year $20.67BFY2026 $11.60BFY2026 $6.62BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +3.0%FY2026 +15.3%FY2026 +11.5%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +1.6% +11.3% -0.3%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersBSXISRGSTE
Held by institutions 90.5% 86.2% 97.1%
Institutions holding 1,482 2,237 830
Change in shares held, QoQ -0.7% +4.6% +1.1%
Institutions buying 739 1,072 406
Institutions selling 610 877 300
Buyers to sellers 1.21 1.22 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.

BSXISRGSTE
BSX 1.00 0.38 0.29
ISRG 0.38 1.00 0.45
STE 0.29 0.45 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, BSX, ISRG and STE?

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) is the largest by market capitalisation: Boston Scientific (BSX) $61.85B, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) $155.54B, Steris (STE) $22.64B.

Which stock is cheaper, BSX, ISRG and STE?

Boston Scientific (BSX) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Boston Scientific (BSX) 17.9x, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 53.0x, Steris (STE) 28.2x). On next year's consensus earnings, Boston Scientific (BSX) is cheapest (Boston Scientific (BSX) 13.7x, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 39.1x, 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?

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Boston Scientific (BSX) +8.9%, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) +20.5%, Steris (STE) +8.4%.

Which company is more profitable?

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) has the highest net margin (Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 25.5%, Steris (STE) 13.3%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Steris (STE) returned the most: Boston Scientific (BSX) -57.4%, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) -16.5%, Steris (STE) -1.9%. Over five years, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) compounded fastest (Boston Scientific (BSX) -0.2%/yr, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) +4.4%/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: Steris (STE) 1.11%. Boston Scientific (BSX) and Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Steris (STE) has been the steadiest (Boston Scientific (BSX) 40.3%, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) 34.6%, Steris (STE) 26.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, BSX, ISRG 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, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) leads on 5. 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.