Intuitive Surgical vs Steris
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The short version
- Intuitive Surgical is the larger business, with $10.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $5.9B for Steris, about 1.7 times as much.
- Intuitive Surgical grew revenue faster (20.5%, against 8.7%).
- Intuitive Surgical kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (29.3% operating margin, against 18.6%).
- Intuitive Surgical turned more of its sales into free cash flow (24.8% FCF margin, against 16.4%).
- Intuitive Surgical earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (20.9%, against 9.6%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Intuitive Surgical’s earnings: a P/E of 54.8x against 28.4x for Steris.
| Latest fiscal year | ISRG · FY25 | STE · FY26 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $159.0B | $22.7B |
| Revenue | $10.1B | $5.9B |
| Free cash flow | $2.5B | $972M |
| Net income | $2.9B | $782M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 20.5% | 8.7% |
| 5-year growth | 18.2% | 13.8% |
| Share count change | 0.2% | −0.4% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 66.0% | 44.3% |
| Operating margin | 29.3% | 18.6% |
| Net margin | 28.4% | 13.2% |
| FCF margin | 24.8% | 16.4% |
| Return on capital | 20.9% | 9.6% |
| Return on equity | 16.7% | 11.4% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | −$5.9B | $1.5B |
| Net debt / EBITDA | −1.7x | 0.9x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $2.3B | $477M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 54.8x | 28.4x |
| Piotroski F-score | 5 | 9 |
Revenue
FY17
ISRG $3.1B
STE $2.6B
FY18
ISRG $3.7B
STE $2.6B
FY19
ISRG $4.5B
STE $2.8B
FY20
ISRG $4.4B
STE $3.0B
FY21
ISRG $5.7B
STE $3.1B
FY22
ISRG $6.2B
STE $4.2B
FY23
ISRG $7.1B
STE $4.5B
FY24
ISRG $8.4B
STE $5.1B
FY25
ISRG $10.1B
STE $5.5B
FY26
ISRG —
STE $5.9B
ISRG
STE
Operating margin
FY17
ISRG 33.9%
STE 8.7%
FY18
ISRG 32.2%
STE 15.3%
FY19
ISRG 30.7%
STE 14.8%
FY20
ISRG 24.1%
STE 17.7%
FY21
ISRG 31.9%
STE 17.7%
FY22
ISRG 25.4%
STE 11.3%
FY23
ISRG 24.8%
STE 17.4%
FY24
ISRG 28.1%
STE 16.3%
FY25
ISRG 29.3%
STE 15.9%
FY26
ISRG —
STE 18.6%
ISRG
STE
Free cash flow
FY17
ISRG $953M
STE $251M
FY18
ISRG $982M
STE $292M
FY19
ISRG $1.2B
STE $350M
FY20
ISRG $1.1B
STE $376M
FY21
ISRG $1.7B
STE $450M
FY22
ISRG $958M
STE $397M
FY23
ISRG $750M
STE $395M
FY24
ISRG $1.3B
STE $613M
FY25
ISRG $2.5B
STE $778M
FY26
ISRG —
STE $972M
ISRG
STE
Return on capital
FY17
ISRG 21.2%
STE —
FY18
ISRG 32.7%
STE —
FY19
ISRG 29.1%
STE 8.0%
FY20
ISRG 19.1%
STE 10.5%
FY21
ISRG 26.9%
STE 8.8%
FY22
ISRG 17.9%
STE 5.1%
FY23
ISRG 21.6%
STE 7.1%
FY24
ISRG 19.9%
STE 7.2%
FY25
ISRG 20.9%
STE 7.5%
FY26
ISRG —
STE 9.6%
ISRG
STE
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.