Alcon vs Align Technology
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The short version
- Alcon is the larger business, with $10.4B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $4.0B for Align Technology, about 2.6 times as much.
- Alcon grew revenue faster (4.9%, against 0.9%).
- Alcon turned more of its sales into free cash flow (16.6% FCF margin, against 12.2%).
- Align Technology earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (13.3%, against 4.6%).
| Latest fiscal year | ALC · FY25 | ALGN · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $34.8B | $11.0B |
| Revenue | $10.4B | $4.0B |
| Free cash flow | $1.7B | $491M |
| Net income | $980M | $410M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 4.9% | 0.9% |
| 5-year growth | 8.8% | 10.3% |
| Share count change | −0.3% | −3.2% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 55.2% | 67.2% |
| Operating margin | 13.1% | 13.5% |
| Net margin | 9.4% | 10.2% |
| FCF margin | 16.6% | 12.2% |
| Return on capital | 4.6% | 13.3% |
| Return on equity | 4.5% | 10.4% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $3.2B | −$1.1B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | — | −1.4x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $842M | $466M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | 26.9x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 5 |
Revenue
FY16
ALC —
ALGN $1.1B
FY17
ALC $6.8B
ALGN $1.5B
FY18
ALC $7.2B
ALGN $2.0B
FY19
ALC $7.5B
ALGN $2.4B
FY20
ALC $6.8B
ALGN $2.5B
FY21
ALC $8.3B
ALGN $4.0B
FY22
ALC $8.7B
ALGN $3.7B
FY23
ALC $9.5B
ALGN $3.9B
FY24
ALC $9.9B
ALGN $4.0B
FY25
ALC $10.4B
ALGN $4.0B
ALC
ALGN
Operating margin
FY16
ALC —
ALGN 23.1%
FY17
ALC −1.1%
ALGN 24.0%
FY18
ALC −3.5%
ALGN 23.7%
FY19
ALC −2.5%
ALGN 22.5%
FY20
ALC −7.1%
ALGN 15.7%
FY21
ALC 7.0%
ALGN 24.7%
FY22
ALC 7.7%
ALGN 17.2%
FY23
ALC 11.0%
ALGN 16.7%
FY24
ALC 14.3%
ALGN 15.2%
FY25
ALC 13.1%
ALGN 13.5%
ALC
ALGN
Free cash flow
FY16
ALC —
ALGN $177M
FY17
ALC $803M
ALGN $243M
FY18
ALC $616M
ALGN $331M
FY19
ALC $367M
ALGN $598M
FY20
ALC $344M
ALGN $507M
FY21
ALC $645M
ALGN $771M
FY22
ALC $581M
ALGN $277M
FY23
ALC $730M
ALGN $608M
FY24
ALC $1.6B
ALGN $623M
FY25
ALC $1.7B
ALGN $491M
ALC
ALGN
Return on capital
FY16
ALC —
ALGN 57.8%
FY17
ALC —
ALGN 57.5%
FY18
ALC —
ALGN 86.1%
FY19
ALC −0.7%
ALGN 87.3%
FY20
ALC −1.8%
ALGN 28.2%
FY21
ALC 2.4%
ALGN 31.5%
FY22
ALC 2.2%
ALGN 15.4%
FY23
ALC 4.4%
ALGN 17.0%
FY24
ALC 4.7%
ALGN 15.4%
FY25
ALC 4.6%
ALGN 13.3%
ALC
ALGN
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.