Sifting through countless of stocks in the Health Care Equipment & Supplies industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Medtronic plc or STERIS plc because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Medtronic plc and STERIS plc compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Medtronic plc and STERIS plc

Medtronic plc develops, manufactures, and sells device-based medical therapies to healthcare systems, physicians, clinicians, and patients in the United States, Ireland, and internationally. It operates through three segments: The Cardiovascular Portfolio, Neuroscience Portfolio, and Medical Surgical Portfolio. The Cardiovascular Portfolio segment offers implantable cardiac pacemakers, cardioverter defibrillators, and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices; cardiac ablation products; insertable cardiac monitor systems; TYRX products; and remote monitoring and patient-centered software. It also provides aortic valves, surgical valve replacement and repair products, endovascular stent grafts and accessories, and transcatheter pulmonary valves, left atrial appendage exclusion systems, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) systems and percutaneous coronary intervention products, percutaneous angioplasty balloons, and endovenous products. The Neuroscience Portfolio segment offers medical devices and implants, biologic solutions, spinal cord stimulation and brain modulation systems, implantable drug infusion systems, and interventional products, as well as nerve ablation system under the Accurian name. This segment offers its products for spinal surgeons, neurosurgeons, neurologists, pain management specialists, anesthesiologists, orthopedic surgeons, urologists, urogynecologists, and interventional radiologists, as well as ear, nose, and throat specialists, and energy surgical instruments. The Medical Surgical Portfolio segment offers surgical stapling devices, vessel sealing instruments, wound closure and electrosurgery products, AI-powered surgical video and analytics platform, robotic-assisted surgery products, hernia mechanical devices, mesh implants, gynecology products, gastrointestinal and hepatologic diagnostics and therapies, and therapies to treat diseases and conditions, and patient monitoring and airway management products, as well as insulin pumps and consumables, continuous glucose monitoring systems, and sensors. Medtronic plc was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Galway, Ireland.

STERIS plc provides infection prevention products and services in the United States, Ireland, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Healthcare, Applied Sterilization Technologies, and Life Sciences. The company offers cleaning chemistries and sterility assurance products, automated endoscope reprocessing system and tracking products, endoscopy accessories, instruments, washers, and sterilizers and other pieces of capital equipment, as well as equipment used directly in the procedure rooms, including surgical tables, lights, equipment management services, and connectivity solutions; and various preventive maintenance programs, repair services, custom process improvement consulting, and outsourced instrument sterile processing, as well as instrument, devices, and endoscope repair and maintenance services. It also provides process controls and monitoring systems, as well as integrated sterilization equipment, such as accelerators, product handling, and automation; and sterilization modalities, product development, materials testing, and process validation, as well as support services for sterilization equipment and control systems comprising installation, preventive maintenance, updates, repairs, and troubleshooting. In addition, the company offers pharmaceutical detergents, cleanroom disinfectants and sterilants, pharmaceutical grade and research sterilizers and washers, sterility assurance and maintenance products, vaporized hydrogen peroxide room decontamination systems and sterilizers, and high purity water and pure steam generators; and preventive maintenance programs and repair services to support the operation of capital equipment. It serves healthcare providers, medical device and pharmaceutical manufacturers, biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, and hospitals. The company was formerly known as New STERIS Limited and changed its name to STERIS plc in November 2015. STERIS plc was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in Mentor, Ohio.

Latest Health Care Equipment & Supplies and Medtronic plc, STERIS plc Stock News

As of September 2, 2026, Medtronic plc had a $118.0 billion market capitalization, compared to the Health Care Equipment & Supplies median of $416.1 million. Medtronic plc’s stock is down 3.1% in 2026, up 3.5% in the previous five trading days and down 1.23% in the past year.

Currently, Medtronic plc’s price-earnings ratio is 24.7. Medtronic plc’s trailing 12-month revenue is $36.4 billion with a 13.9% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 9.9%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $5.971 per share for the current fiscal year. Medtronic plc currently has a 3.1% dividend yield.

As of September 2, 2026, STERIS plc had a $22.5 billion market cap, putting it in the 87th percentile of all stocks. STERIS plc’s stock is down 10.5% in 2026, down 2.6% in the previous five trading days and down 4.82% in the past year.

Currently, STERIS plc’s price-earnings ratio is 28.2. STERIS plc’s trailing 12-month revenue is $6.0 billion with a 13.3% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 7.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $11.172 per share for the current fiscal year. STERIS plc currently has a 1.2% dividend yield.

How We Compare Medtronic plc and STERIS plc Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Medtronic plc and STERIS plc’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Medtronic plc and STERIS plc Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Medtronic plc	MDT	B
STERIS plc	STE	A

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Medtronic plc has a Growth Score of 73, which is Strong. STERIS plc has a Growth Score of 89, which is Very Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: STERIS plc

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, STERIS plc has a more attractive growth grade than Medtronic plc. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, STERIS plc could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Medtronic plc and STERIS plc’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Medtronic plc	MDT	A
STERIS plc	STE	A

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Medtronic plc has a Quality Score of 84, which is Very Strong. STERIS plc has a Quality Score of 93, which is Very Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Quality Grade breakdown above, both Medtronic plc and STERIS plc have a grade of A. For investors who focus solely on a company’s overall quality, you will need to conduct further research into both companies to see if they are a good fit for your portfolio. As a good rule of thumb, you should always analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before choosing a company to invest in.

Medtronic plc and STERIS plc’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Medtronic plc	MDT	B
STERIS plc	STE	C

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Medtronic plc has a Earnings Estimate Score of 62, which is Positive. STERIS plc has a Earnings Estimate Score of 46, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Medtronic plc

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Medtronic plc has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than STERIS plc. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Medtronic plc could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Medtronic plc and STERIS plc Grades

In addition to Quality, Growth and Estimate Revisions, A+ Investor also provides grades for Value and Momentum.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection. Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Medtronic plc and STERIS plc pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Medtronic plc or STERIS plc Stock?

Overall, Medtronic plc stock has a Growth Score of 73, Estimate Revisions Score of 62 and Quality Score of 84.

STERIS plc stock has a Growth Score of 89, Estimate Revisions Score of 46 and Quality Score of 93.

Comparing Medtronic plc and STERIS plc’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.