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What this page is: Delvantic's full research page for Stryker Corporation (SYK) — AI-driven forensic equity research: mechanical valuation models (DCF, EPV, anchored-PE, scenario) plus three independent AI lenses (Quality / Value / Sentiment). Everything below is rendered server-side; you are not missing content that requires JavaScript. All scores are predictions and research opinions, not financial advice.
Our current read (analysis of 2026-08-23): Designation Low · Gem Score -15 (−100…+100 Quality+Value blend) · Quality 64 · Value -79 · Sentiment 37 (timing only, not weighted) · Composite fair value $194.13 vs $337.43 at analysis
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profile-header/price-overview— company profile, live quote, market capextended-analysis— the core: three AI lens reads with findings, scores, and the analyst memofuture-predictions— our forward price-band predictionsmarket-narrative/ai-findings/gpt-critique— narrative context, cross-model findings, and an adversarial critique of our own analysis (near the end of the document)- Members-only sections (render as login gates for anonymous readers):
price-history,income-trend,key-metrics,financials(statement tables),insider-trading. The analysis above is public; the raw data tables require a free account.
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raw inputs are public-company filings and market data (via licensed data feeds);
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Stryker Corporation
SYK NYSEStryker Corporation is a medical technology company that develops and markets products used in hospitals, surgery centers, and other healthcare settings. Its current portfolio spans MedSurg, Neurotechnology, and Orthopaedics, with offerings that include surgical equipment, endoscopy systems, patient handling and emergency care devices, neurosurgical and neurovascular products, spinal devices, and implants for joint replacement and trauma procedures. The company also provides technologies and equipment designed to support clinicians in performing procedures more efficiently and to improve patient care across a wide range of specialties. Stryker Corporation serves healthcare professionals and institutions worldwide, making it a significant supplier in the global medical devices market. Founded in 1946 and headquartered in Portage, Michigan, Stryker remains focused on medical technologies that are widely used in surgical, orthopedic, and neuro specialty care.
Price Overview
Price History (1 Year)
Revenue & Net Income Trend
| Period | Revenue | Net Income | Net Margin | YoY/QoQ |
|---|
Key Metrics
EPS (Diluted): 8.40
Total Equity: $22.42B
Shares: 386,500,000
Total Debt: $15.86B
Cash: $4.01B
EBITDA: $6.46B
Total Debt: $15.86B
Cash: $4.01B
Revenue: $25.12B
Revenue: $25.12B
Revenue: $25.12B
Total Equity: $22.42B
Tax Rate: 28.1%
Equity: $22.42B
Total Debt: $15.86B
Cash: $4.01B
Current Liabilities: $7.79B
Long-Term Debt: $14.86B
Total Debt: $15.86B
Total Equity: $22.42B
Shares: 386,500,000
Shares: 386,500,000
CapEx: -$761.00M
Shares: 386,500,000
Stock Price: $337.27
Net Income: $3.25B
Industry Benchmarks
Income Statement (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 2, 2026 12:09am (21d ago)| Metric | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $17.1B | $18.4B | $20.5B | $22.6B | $25.1B |
| Cost of Revenue | $6.1B | $6.9B | $7.4B | $8.2B | $9.1B |
| Gross Profit | $11.0B | $11.6B | $13.1B | $14.4B | $16.1B |
| Operating Expenses | $8.4B | $8.7B | $9.2B | $10.8B | $11.2B |
| Operating Income | $2.6B | $2.8B | $3.9B | $3.7B | $4.9B |
| Net Income | $2.0B | $2.4B | $3.2B | $3.0B | $3.2B |
| EBITDA | $3.9B | $4.1B | $5.2B | $5.1B | $6.5B |
| EPS | $5.29 | $6.23 | $8.34 | $7.86 | $8.49 |
| EPS (Diluted) | $5.21 | $6.17 | $8.25 | $7.76 | $8.40 |
Balance Sheet (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 5, 2026 9:36am (18d ago)| Metric | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash & Equivalents | $2.9B | $1.8B | $3.0B | $3.7B | $4.0B |
| Total Current Assets | $10.0B | $10.3B | $12.5B | $14.8B | $14.8B |
| Total Assets | $34.6B | $36.9B | $39.9B | $43.0B | $47.8B |
| Current Liabilities | $4.5B | $6.3B | $7.9B | $7.6B | $7.8B |
| Long-Term Debt | $12.5B | $11.9B | $10.9B | $12.2B | $14.9B |
| Total Liabilities | $19.8B | $20.3B | $21.3B | $22.3B | $25.4B |
| Total Equity | $14.9B | $16.6B | $18.6B | $20.6B | $22.4B |
| Retained Earnings | $13.5B | $14.8B | $16.8B | $18.5B | $20.5B |
Cash Flow (Annual)
Last updated: Aug 2, 2026 12:09am (21d ago)| Metric | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating Cash Flow | $3.3B | $2.6B | $3.7B | $4.2B | $5.0B |
| Capital Expenditure | -$525.0M | -$588.0M | -$575.0M | -$755.0M | -$761.0M |
| Free Cash Flow | $2.7B | $2.0B | $3.1B | $3.5B | $4.3B |
| Acquisitions (net) | -$339.0M | -$2.6B | -$390.0M | -$1.6B | -$5.0B |
| Net Debt Issued / (Repaid) | -$1.1B | $847.0M | -$817.0M | $972.0M | $1.6B |
| Dividends Paid | -$950.0M | -$1.1B | -$1.1B | -$1.2B | -$1.3B |
| Stock Buybacks | $0 | — | — | — | — |
| Net Change in Cash | $1.0M | -$1.1B | $1.1B | $681.0M | $359.0M |
Growth Trends (YoY %)
Last updated: Aug 2, 2026 12:09am (21d ago)| Metric | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue Growth | +7.8% | +11.1% | +10.2% | +11.2% |
| Gross Profit Growth | +5.6% | +12.8% | +10.6% | +11.3% |
| Operating Income Growth | +9.9% | +36.9% | -5.1% | +32.5% |
| Net Income Growth | +18.3% | +34.2% | -5.4% | +8.5% |
| EBITDA Growth | +6.8% | +26.9% | -2.2% | +26.3% |
Dividend History (Last 20)
Last updated: Aug 5, 2026 9:37am (18d ago)| Date | Dividend | Declaration | Record | Payment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-30 | $0.88 | — | — | — |
| 2026-03-31 | $0.88 | — | — | — |
| 2025-12-31 | $0.88 | — | — | — |
| 2025-09-30 | $0.84 | — | — | — |
| 2025-06-30 | $0.84 | — | — | — |
| 2025-03-31 | $0.84 | — | — | — |
| 2024-12-31 | $0.84 | — | — | — |
| 2024-09-30 | $0.80 | — | — | — |
| 2024-06-28 | $0.80 | — | — | — |
| 2024-03-27 | $0.80 | — | — | — |
| 2023-12-28 | $0.80 | — | — | — |
| 2023-09-28 | $0.75 | — | — | — |
| 2023-06-29 | $0.75 | — | — | — |
| 2023-03-30 | $0.75 | — | — | — |
| 2022-12-29 | $0.75 | — | — | — |
| 2022-09-29 | $0.70 | — | — | — |
| 2022-06-29 | $0.70 | — | — | — |
| 2022-03-30 | $0.70 | — | — | — |
| 2021-12-30 | $0.70 | — | — | — |
| 2021-09-29 | $0.63 | — | — | — |
Deep Analysis
Risk : Reward — if the last quarter repeats
Live · as of 2026-08-19 11:07Even the bull case prices 49% below today — the ratio here measures the model-vs-market gap, not payoff odds. Another quarter like the worst recent one costs 64%.
| Case | Growth | Margin | Fair value | vs price ($337.43) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bull — recovery | +12% | 16.6% | $171.86 | -49% |
| Base — stabilizes | +8% | 14.4% | $133.60 | -60% |
| Bear — keeps slipping | +4% | 12.3% | $101.85 | -70% |
| Stress — last quarter repeats | +3% | 15.7% | $121.64 | -64% |
Narrative Economics
market-narrative step).
Claude Reading
Independent read first: SYK's operating fundamentals are genuinely strong but not remotely priced-in cheaply. Trailing four quarters of revenue sum to ~$25.8B (Q3'25 through Q2'26 as reported), up from ~$23.4B a year prior — roughly 10-11% growth, consistent with the 5-year revenue CAGR of 10.7%. But earnings CAGR of just 1.3% over five years is the tell: revenue compounded at double digits while net income went from $1.99B (2021) to $3.25B (2025), a 10.3% NI CAGR — so the "1.3%" figure looks like a mid-period dip artifact, but even the honest ~10% NI CAGR does not justify 40x earnings. Q2'26 margin of 19.4% is a standout, but Q1'26 fell back to 12.4% and the quarterly margin series is genuinely lumpy (8.5% to 15.2% swings in 2024) — suggesting acquisition accounting noise rather than clean underlying leverage. FCF of $4.28B on a $129B market cap is a 3.3% FCF yield, which is thin for a "mature earner" growing sales ~10%.
On the balance sheet: $15.86B debt vs $4.01B cash = ~$11.85B net debt, pushing EV to ~$141B. EV/EBITDA of 21.8x and EV/Sales of 5.6x are premium multiples for a device maker whose ROIC is only 10.3% and ROA 6.8%. Debt/equity of 0.71 is manageable but reflects Stryker's serial acquisition strategy — much of the "growth" is bolt-on M&A, and the $16.07B gross profit against $22.42B equity plus goodwill-heavy balance sheet means organic growth is likely mid-single digits, not the 10.7% headline. That matters when the multiple assumes durable double-digit compounding.
I agree with the Valuation Synthesis direction but think the $180-196 fair value is too punitive. A mature-earner DCF that ignores Mako's installed-base annuity and switching costs will systematically undershoot fair value for a device oligopoly — this is the narrative layer's legitimate point. Splitting the difference: at 25x forward earnings (~$14 EPS run-rate on 2026 estimates), fair value lands closer to $340-360 for a bull case, $260-280 for base, $200 for bear. So the current $337 is fair-to-slightly-rich, not "46.9% overvalued." The synthesis and narrative layers are actually in productive tension here — the DCF is anchored to steady-state, the market is pricing continued M&A-fueled compounding, and the truth is that Stryker has earned some premium via 15+ years of execution. But not this much: at 40x TTM P/E with decelerating quarterly revenue (per the secondary signal) and healthcare macro headwinds, the risk/reward is asymmetric to the downside. The narrative layer's "platform-monopoly, durable, anchored" framing is correct qualitatively but the "88% premium is pure narrative" quantification overstates it.
Contrarian devil's advocate: SYK has beaten estimates for ~30 consecutive quarters, Mako robotic procedures compound at ~20%+ and drive high-margin recurring implant pull-through, and aging demographics + surgical backlog are real multi-decade tailwinds. If organic growth stays 8-9% and margins expand 100bps over three years, EPS reaches ~$16-17 and even a de-rated 28x multiple gets you to $460. The bear case requires either a recession-driven elective surgery pause, a Mako competitor breakthrough (JNJ Velys is trying), or reimbursement cuts — none imminent. The models may be underweighting how rare a 10%-growing, 20% operating margin, dominant-share compounder actually is; buyers of quality at these prices have been right for a decade. What would flip me constructive: a 15-20% drawdown to $270-285, or evidence organic growth is re-accelerating above 8% ex-M&A. What would validate my caution: any quarter with organic growth below 6% — the multiple would compress fast. I dissent partially with the synthesis — SYK is expensive, not egregiously overvalued.
GPT Reading
At $337, Stryker is being valued like a scarce, high-visibility compounder, and the operating history is good enough to explain part of that premium but not all of it. The business has grown revenue from $17.1B in 2021 to $25.1B in 2025, a 10%-plus annual clip that is excellent for a large-cap medtech franchise. The recent run-rate is still healthy: first-half 2026 revenue was $12.61B versus $11.89B in first-half 2025, up about 6.1%, and the June quarter alone reached $6.59B, up 9.5% from $6.02B a year earlier. Gross margin at 64.0% and operating margin at 19.5% are strong, free cash flow of $4.28B on $25.12B of sales is real, and the balance sheet is manageable with $15.86B of debt against $4.01B of cash and $22.42B of equity. This is a very good company.
What the valuation asks you to believe, though, is more demanding than the raw numbers justify. The biggest disconnect is that earnings have not compounded like the stock multiple assumes. Revenue is up 47% from 2021 to 2025, but net income only moved from $1.99B to $3.25B and the provided earnings CAGR is just 1.3%, reflecting the fact that 2023 net income of $3.17B was barely below 2025. Even on a more forgiving view, the path is lumpy: quarterly net margin ranged from 8.5% in Q4 2024 to 19.4% in Q2 2026. That kind of variability is acceptable for a serial acquirer with integration and accounting noise, but it weakens the case for paying 40.2x earnings, 21.8x EV/EBITDA, and 5.6x EV/revenue for a business earning roughly 10.3% ROIC. A company with this profile usually deserves a premium; it does not usually deserve a “nothing can go wrong” premium.
The better way to frame Stryker is as a high-quality mature earner with decent growth and excellent cash conversion, not as a secular hyper-compounder. Free cash flow does support the quality case: $5.04B of operating cash flow and just $761M of capex means the model is capital-light enough to keep funding bolt-ons, dividends, and deleveraging. But at a $129.4B market cap, that is only about a 3.3% FCF yield. Unless you underwrite sustained double-digit EPS growth plus continued multiple support, the math gets tight quickly. Annual operating income improved from $3.69B in 2024 to $4.89B in 2025, which is impressive, yet the market is already capitalizing that improvement aggressively. If I put this on a spectrum, the stock looks less “cheap quality” and more “premium quality fully paid for,” with fair value materially below the current quote; I would be much more interested closer to the high-$200s, and genuinely constructive below roughly $280.
The strongest pushback is straightforward and legitimate: medtech leaders often screen expensive for years because their demand is resilient, demographics are favorable, and installed-base advantages create long-duration pricing power. Stryker’s revenue growth has clearly outpaced many large-cap healthcare peers, recent earnings did rebound with Q2 2026 net income up to $1.28B from $884M a year earlier, and operating leverage may still have room if recent lower-margin quarters were temporary. If 2026 annualizes anywhere near the June-quarter margin profile, the current P/E can compress faster than the bears expect. I weigh that argument less heavily because the stock is not merely expensive on trailing trough-ish numbers; it is expensive across sales, book, EBITDA, and cash flow for a company whose long-run earnings progression has been much less linear than the bull case implies.
What would change my mind is simple: I need evidence that earnings growth is becoming structurally commensurate with the multiple. If Stryker can deliver 2026 revenue above $26.8B with operating margin sustaining above 21% and free cash flow moving toward $5.0B, I could justify a premium remaining in place. Conversely, if quarterly revenue growth slips to mid-single digits while net margin falls back into the 11%-14% band, the 40x earnings multiple becomes very hard to defend and I would expect a meaningful derating.
Grok Reading
Stryker’s numbers describe a high-quality med-device franchise that is simply priced as if it were something rarer. Revenue compounded at 10.7% from $17.1B in 2021 to $25.1B in 2025, with the most recent quarter at $6.59B still running roughly 9–11% ahead of the year-ago print; free cash flow of $4.28B on only $761M of capex is excellent conversion, and the 64% gross margin plus 19.5% operating margin confirm real pricing power in joints, trauma, and the Mako robotics installed base. Yet the earnings path is far less impressive than the top line: annual net income moved from $1.99B to $3.25B over five years with a noticeable stall in 2024 ($2.99B), the stated earnings CAGR is a meager 1.3%, and quarterly net margins still swing from 11% to 19%. At $337 the stock trades at 40× trailing earnings, 5.2× sales and 22× EV/EBITDA while delivering a 10.3% ROIC and a 3.3% FCF yield. Those multiples embed mid-teens earnings growth and continued margin expansion indefinitely; the actual trajectory supports high-single to low-double-digit growth at best. The valuation synthesis fair value near $180–196 is directionally correct—the gap is not a rounding error.
The bull case that deserves weight is straightforward: this is an oligopoly compounder riding an aging demographic with sticky OR capital equipment, recurring implant pull-through, and a proven M&A machine. FCF CAGR of 16.9%, a fortress current ratio of 1.9, manageable 0.71 debt-to-equity, and a durable narrative that institutions still fund mean the multiple can stay elevated longer than a pure DCF says it should. Recent revenue confidence remains “good,” organic growth is still ahead of most large-cap device peers, and the latest quarter’s 19.4% net margin shows operating leverage is not exhausted. A smart opponent would also note that healthcare cost pressure has been the bear story for a decade and Stryker has kept compounding through it.
I still weigh the other side more heavily. Paying 40× for 10–11% revenue growth and mid-teens ROIC is a bet that nothing goes wrong in procedure volumes, reimbursement, or competitive robotics share for the next five years. The narrative layer itself admits an 88% premium to steady-state cash flows; that is pure multiple expansion risk once growth decelerates even modestly—as the secondary signals already flag “decelerating” quarterly revenue trend and “below sector benchmarks.” Macro headwinds only raise the bar.
I would flip to neutral or better if the next two quarters show organic revenue re-accelerating above 13% with operating margin sustainably clearing 22%, or if the stock corrected into the mid-$220s while FCF held above $4B. Until then the quality is real and the price is not.
Big-3 Panel — where each AI stands
Advanced Analysis Forensic deep-dive · separate lenses
Revenue compounded from $17.1B (2021) to $25.1B (2025), roughly 10% CAGR, with gross margin steady around 64% and operating margin stepping up from 15.1% to 19.5%. Free cash flow scaled from $2.74B to $4.28B, and OCF/NI of 1.38x with accruals at -2.5% of assets signals genuinely cash-backed earnings. Beneish M of -2.62 and Altman Z of 4.69 corroborate the mechanical cleanliness.
Verify before trusting this (5)
- Composition and maturity ladder of the $11.85B net debt; interest coverage detail
- Cause of 2024 operating margin compression (integration costs from Vocera/other deals?)
- Organic vs M&A contribution to 10% revenue CAGR
- Segment concentration - MedSurg/Neurotech vs Orthopaedics durability
- Goodwill/intangibles as % of assets given acquisitive history
Every valuation method in the brief lands well below the $337.43 price: DCF at $212, anchored P/E at $251, EPV floor at $109, composite $196, signal-adjusted $179. Even the most generous of these (anchored P/E $251) implies ~26% downside; the composite implies ~42%. Earnings quality is high (no haircut warranted) and business quality is Strong, both of which lift deserved value, but not enough to close a gap this wide. To justify $337 you need to believe DCF is understating durable growth by roughly 55% - i.e. Stryker sustains high-teens FCF compounding for a decade plus, well above its mature-medtech reality.
Verify before trusting this (4)
- Organic revenue growth trajectory in latest 10-Q vs the mid-single-digit medtech baseline embedded in DCF
- Management long-term growth/margin guidance at investor day
- M&A cadence and returns on recent deals (Mako, Vocera integration economics)
- Any one-time items inflating current EPS that anchored-PE may be extrapolating
Sentiment pressure on Stryker leans positive but not euphoric. The prevailing narrative is a strong, durable 'platform-monopoly compounder riding aging demographics' story with low cult coefficient - which means the pressure is steady institutional buy-and-hold demand rather than momentum-chasing froth. That kind of narrative rarely produces sharp de-rating events; it produces persistent bid. With beta 0.77 and defensive med-device sector positioning, the risk-on tape (VIX 15.2, S&P near highs) is a mild tailwind, and any risk-off wobble would hit SYK far less than high-beta story stocks. Momentum reads strong_positive with 10.7% CAGR, confirming the tape is already carrying this name. The counter-pressure is macro: 10y at 4.63% and a market PE of 27.7 make it harder for a name already trading at an 88% premium to DCF to attract fresh incremental buyers on valuation - the narrative has to keep doing all the lifting. News flow is quiet and constructive (routine dividend declaration reinforces the compounder identity). Analyst tone is not detailed here but the setup is a classic 'own-it' consensus name with no visible narrative cracks. Net: gentle, persistent tailwind from narrative durability and defensive positioning, partially offset by rate-driven valuation gravity on premium multiples.
Verify before trusting this (4)
- Any crack in the aging-demographics or med-device pricing-power narrative (reimbursement pressure headlines, CMS action)
- Sector rotation out of defensives into cyclicals or AI beneficiaries
- A sharp move in the 10y that would compress premium-multiple defensives
- Analyst target revisions or downgrades citing valuation stretch
This lens hasn't been run for this ticker yet.
When we made this prediction on Aug 7, 2026, SYK was $337.43. We expect it to be $316.00 by Feb 2027, and we consider it great value under $235.00. This is an early model (v0.6.0) — the direction is more reliable than the exact price. Made Aug 7, 2026.
Blue is our prediction, starting the day we made it. Grey is a slower route to the same place — the same destination, taking longer. Black is the actual price, so you can see how we are doing.