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 Solventum Corporation or Alcon Inc. 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 Solventum Corporation and Alcon Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.
About Solventum Corporation and Alcon Inc.
Solventum Corporation, a healthcare company, develops, manufactures, and commercializes a portfolio of solutions to address critical customer and patient needs in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Medsurg, Dental Solutions, and Health Information Systems. The Medsurg segment offers solutions, such as negative pressure wound therapy, advanced wound dressings, advanced skin care, synthetic tissue matrices, I.V. site management, sterilization assurance, temperature management, surgical supplies, medical tapes and wraps, stethoscopes, medical electrodes, and medical technologies for original equipment manufacturers. The Dental Solutions segment provides dental and orthodontic products, including brackets, aligners, restorative cements, and bonding agents to span the life of the tooth, and products for preventative dental care, direct and indirect restoration, and orthodontic needs. The Health Information Systems segment offers healthcare systems with software solutions comprising computer-assisted physician documentation, direct-to-bill and coding automation, classification methodologies, speech recognition, and data visualization platforms. The company sells its products and services through direct-to-consumer, distribution, key account management, inside sales, and e-commerce. Solventum Corporation was incorporated in 2023 and is headquartered in Eagan, Minnesota.
Alcon Inc. researches, develops, manufactures, distributes, and sells eye care products worldwide. The company operates through two segments, Surgical and Vision Care. It offers equipment, instrumentation and diagnostics, intraocular lenses (IOLs), and other implantables; and consumables, including viscoelastics, surgical solutions, incisional instruments, surgical custom packs, and other products for surgical procedures. The company’s cataract products include Unity CS, LenSx laser system, Verion reference unit and Verion digital marker, ARGOS biometer, SMARTCATARACT health platform, NGENUITY 3D visualization system, LuxOR surgical ophthalmic microscope, and ORA system for intra-operative measurements; ADI cloud-based platform; and implantable products, including monofocal, Toric, and Presbyopia-Correcting IOLs, as well as delivery systems, such as AutonoMe and UltraSert. In addition, it provides Custom Pak surgical procedure packs vitreoretinal products comprising constellation vision systems, procedure packs, lasers and hand-held microsurgical instruments, Grieshaber, MIVS instruments; scissors, forceps and micro-instruments, medical grade vitreous tamponades, and Hypervit probes; and refractive surgery products, including WaveLight and Contoura Vision used for LASIK refractive procedure. Further, the company offers daily disposable, reusable, and color-enhancing contact lenses; ocular health products, such as dry eye, ocular allergies, glaucoma, and contact lens care, as well as ocular vitamins and redness relievers. The company was formerly known as Alcon Universal S.A. and changed its name to Alcon Inc. in December 2001. Alcon Inc. was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
Latest Health Care Equipment & Supplies and Solventum Corporation, Alcon Inc. Stock News
As of August 19, 2026, Solventum Corporation had a $14.9 billion market capitalization, compared to the Health Care Equipment & Supplies median of $425.3 million. Solventum Corporation’s stock is NA in 2026, NA in the previous five trading days and up 24.1% in the past year.
Currently, Solventum Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 10.7. Solventum Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $8.3 billion with a 17.3% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 2.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $7.183 per share for the current fiscal year. Solventum Corporation does not currently pay a dividend.
Currently, Alcon Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 56.6. Alcon Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $10.9 billion with a 5.9% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 8.7%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $3.497 per share for the current fiscal year. Alcon Inc. currently has a 0.4% dividend yield.
How We Compare Solventum Corporation and Alcon Inc. 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 Solventum Corporation and Alcon Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.
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Solventum Corporation and Alcon Inc.’s Quality Grades
| Company | Ticker | Quality |
| Solventum Corporation | SOLV | A |
| Alcon Inc. | ALC | B |
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.
Solventum Corporation has a Quality Score of 83, which is Very Strong.
Alcon Inc. has a Quality Score of 77, which is Strong.
The Quality Grade Winner: Solventum Corporation
As you can clearly see from the Quality Grade breakdown above, Solventum Corporation has a better overall quality grade than Alcon Inc.. For investors who are looking for companies with higher quality than others in the same industry, Solventum Corporation could be a good stock to add to their portfolios. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.
Solventum Corporation and Alcon Inc.’s Momentum Grades
| Company | Ticker | Momentum |
| Solventum Corporation | SOLV | B |
| Alcon Inc. | ALC | D |
Momentum grades help to 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. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.
Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.
Solventum Corporation has a Momentum Score of 61, which is Strong.
Alcon Inc. has a Momentum Score of 33, which is Weak.
The Momentum Grade Winner: Solventum Corporation
As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, Solventum Corporation is considered to have stronger momentum compared to Alcon Inc.. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, Solventum Corporation could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.
Solventum Corporation and Alcon Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades
| Company | Ticker | Earnings Estimate |
| Solventum Corporation | SOLV | A |
| Alcon Inc. | ALC | 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.
Solventum Corporation has a Earnings Estimate Score of 88, which is Very Positive.
Alcon Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 56, which is Neutral.
The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Solventum Corporation
As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Solventum Corporation has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than Alcon Inc.. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Solventum Corporation 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.
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Other Solventum Corporation and Alcon Inc. Grades
In addition to Quality, Momentum and Estimate Revisions, A+ Investor also provides grades for Value and Growth.
Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.
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 Solventum Corporation and Alcon Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.
So, Which Is the Better Investment, Solventum Corporation or Alcon Inc. Stock?
Overall, Solventum Corporation stock has a Momentum Score of 61, Estimate Revisions Score of 88 and Quality Score of 83.
Alcon Inc. stock has a Momentum Score of 33, Estimate Revisions Score of 56 and Quality Score of 77.
Comparing Solventum Corporation and Alcon Inc.’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.
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