Becton Dickinson vs Stryker
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- Stryker is the larger business, with $25.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $21.8B for Becton Dickinson.
- Stryker grew revenue faster (11.2%, against 8.2%).
- Stryker kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (19.5% operating margin, against 11.8%).
- Stryker turned more of its sales into free cash flow (17.1% FCF margin, against 12.2%).
- Stryker earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (11.3%, against 5.5%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Becton Dickinson’s earnings: a P/E of 59.9x against 31.8x for Stryker.
| Latest fiscal year | BDX · FY25 | SYK · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $54.7B | $118.6B |
| Revenue | $21.8B | $25.1B |
| Free cash flow | $2.7B | $4.3B |
| Net income | $1.7B | $3.2B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 8.2% | 11.2% |
| 5-year growth | 6.3% | 11.8% |
| Share count change | −0.9% | 0.2% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 45.4% | 64.0% |
| Operating margin | 11.8% | 19.5% |
| Net margin | 7.7% | 12.9% |
| FCF margin | 12.2% | 17.1% |
| Return on capital | 5.5% | 11.3% |
| Return on equity | 6.5% | 15.1% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $17.0B | $10.8B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 3.4x | 1.7x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $2.2B | $1.3B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 59.9x | 31.8x |
| Piotroski F-score | 6 | 6 |
Revenue
FY16
BDX $12.5B
SYK $11.3B
FY17
BDX $12.1B
SYK $12.4B
FY18
BDX $16.0B
SYK $13.6B
FY19
BDX $17.3B
SYK $14.9B
FY20
BDX $16.1B
SYK $14.4B
FY21
BDX $19.1B
SYK $17.1B
FY22
BDX $18.9B
SYK $18.4B
FY23
BDX $19.4B
SYK $20.5B
FY24
BDX $20.2B
SYK $22.6B
FY25
BDX $21.8B
SYK $25.1B
BDX
SYK
Operating margin
FY16
BDX 11.5%
SYK 19.2%
FY17
BDX 12.6%
SYK 18.5%
FY18
BDX 9.4%
SYK 18.7%
FY19
BDX 10.2%
SYK 18.2%
FY20
BDX 5.7%
SYK 15.5%
FY21
BDX 11.8%
SYK 15.1%
FY22
BDX 12.1%
SYK 15.4%
FY23
BDX 10.9%
SYK 19.0%
FY24
BDX 11.9%
SYK 16.3%
FY25
BDX 11.8%
SYK 19.5%
BDX
SYK
Free cash flow
FY16
BDX $1.9B
SYK $1.4B
FY17
BDX $1.8B
SYK $961M
FY18
BDX $2.0B
SYK $2.0B
FY19
BDX $2.4B
SYK $1.5B
FY20
BDX $2.8B
SYK $2.8B
FY21
BDX $3.5B
SYK $2.7B
FY22
BDX $1.5B
SYK $2.0B
FY23
BDX $2.1B
SYK $3.1B
FY24
BDX $3.1B
SYK $3.5B
FY25
BDX $2.7B
SYK $4.3B
BDX
SYK
Return on capital
FY16
BDX —
SYK 17.4%
FY17
BDX —
SYK 8.5%
FY18
BDX 2.7%
SYK 16.6%
FY19
BDX 4.6%
SYK 12.5%
FY20
BDX 2.0%
SYK 8.7%
FY21
BDX 5.6%
SYK 9.5%
FY22
BDX 5.5%
SYK 9.8%
FY23
BDX 5.0%
SYK 12.7%
FY24
BDX 5.1%
SYK 11.4%
FY25
BDX 5.5%
SYK 11.3%
BDX
SYK
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.