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 Becton, Dickinson and Company or Medtronic 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 Becton, Dickinson and Company and Medtronic plc compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Becton, Dickinson and Company and Medtronic plc

Becton, Dickinson and Company develops, manufactures, and sells medical supplies, devices, laboratory equipment, and diagnostic products for healthcare institutions, physicians, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, pharmaceutical industry, and the general public worldwide. It operates through Medical Essentials, Connected Care, BioPharma Systems, Interventional and Life Sciences segments. It provides peripheral intravenous (IV) and advanced peripheral catheters, central lines, acute dialysis catheters, vascular access technology, vascular care and preparation products, needle-free IV connectors and extensions sets, closed-system drug transfer devices, hazardous drug detections, hypodermic syringes and needles, anesthesia needles and trays, enteral syringes, and sharps disposal systems; IV medication safety and infusion therapy delivery systems, medication compounding workflow system, automated medication dispensing and supply management systems, informatics and analytics and pharmacy automation system, and medication inventory optimization and tracking system; hemodynamic monitoring system; and prefillable drug delivery systems. It also offers specimen and blood collection products; automated blood and tuberculosis culturing, molecular testing, and microorganism identification and drug susceptibility, as well as rapid diagnostic assays, microbiology laboratory automation products, and plated media products; and fluorescence-activated cell sorters and analyzers, antibodies and kits, reagent system, and solution for single-cell gene expression analysis, as well as clinical oncology, immunological, and transplantation diagnostic/monitoring reagents and analyzers. It provides hernia and soft tissue repair, biological and bioresorbable graft, biosurgery, and other surgical products; surgical infection prevention, peripheral intervention, and urology and critical care products. The company has a strategic collaboration with ChemoGLO for the advancement of hazardous drug contamination testing in health care settings to improve the safety of health care workers. The company was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.

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.

Latest Health Care Equipment & Supplies and Becton, Dickinson and Company, Medtronic plc Stock News

As of September 2, 2026, Becton, Dickinson and Company had a $51.1 billion market capitalization, compared to the Health Care Equipment & Supplies median of $416.1 million. Becton, Dickinson and Company’s stock is NA in 2026, NA in the previous five trading days and down 0.34% in the past year.

Currently, Becton, Dickinson and Company’s price-earnings ratio is 32.2. Becton, Dickinson and Company’s trailing 12-month revenue is $22.5 billion with a 4.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 5.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $12.623 per share for the current fiscal year. Becton, Dickinson and Company currently has a 2.2% dividend yield.

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.

How We Compare Becton, Dickinson and Company and Medtronic 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 Becton, Dickinson and Company and Medtronic plc’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Becton, Dickinson and Company and Medtronic plc Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Becton, Dickinson and Company	BDX	A
Medtronic plc	MDT	B

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.

Becton, Dickinson and Company has a Growth Score of 95, which is Very Strong. Medtronic plc has a Growth Score of 73, which is Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: Becton, Dickinson and Company

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, Becton, Dickinson and Company 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, Becton, Dickinson and Company 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.

Becton, Dickinson and Company and Medtronic plc’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Becton, Dickinson and Company	BDX	A
Medtronic plc	MDT	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.

Becton, Dickinson and Company has a Quality Score of 92, which is Very Strong. Medtronic plc has a Quality Score of 84, which is Very Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Quality Grade breakdown above, both Becton, Dickinson and Company and Medtronic 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.

Becton, Dickinson and Company and Medtronic plc’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Becton, Dickinson and Company	BDX	B
Medtronic plc	MDT	B

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.

Becton, Dickinson and Company has a Earnings Estimate Score of 69, which is Positive. Medtronic plc has a Earnings Estimate Score of 62, which is Positive.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, both Becton, Dickinson and Company and Medtronic plc have a grade of B. For those focusing solely on a company’s estimate revisions, other financial metrics will need to be evaluated to determine whether Becton, Dickinson and Company or Medtronic plc is a better fit.

Other Becton, Dickinson and Company and Medtronic plc Grades

In addition to Growth, Quality 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 Becton, Dickinson and Company and Medtronic plc pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Becton, Dickinson and Company or Medtronic plc Stock?

Overall, Becton, Dickinson and Company stock has a Growth Score of 95, Estimate Revisions Score of 69 and Quality Score of 92.

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

Comparing Becton, Dickinson and Company and Medtronic 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.