Head to Head Survey: Stryker (NYSE:SYK) and GE HealthCare Technologies (NASDAQ:GEHC)

GE HealthCare Technologies (NASDAQ:GEHC) and Stryker (NYSE:SYK) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, institutional ownership, risk, valuation and analyst recommendations.

Risk & Volatility

GE HealthCare Technologies has a beta of 1.09, meaning that its stock price is 9% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stryker has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

82.1% of GE HealthCare Technologies shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.1% of Stryker shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of GE HealthCare Technologies shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.2% of Stryker shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and target prices for GE HealthCare Technologies and Stryker, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GE HealthCare Technologies	0	6	6	0	2.50
Stryker	0	6	13	0	2.68

GE HealthCare Technologies presently has a consensus target price of $87.09, indicating a potential upside of 4.74%. Stryker has a consensus target price of $431.84, indicating a potential upside of 22.57%. Given Stryker’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Stryker is more favorable than GE HealthCare Technologies.

Profitability

This table compares GE HealthCare Technologies and Stryker’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GE HealthCare Technologies	10.94%	22.52%	6.09%
Stryker	12.07%	24.07%	11.16%

Dividends

GE HealthCare Technologies pays an annual dividend of $0.14 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.2%. Stryker pays an annual dividend of $3.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. GE HealthCare Technologies pays out 2.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Stryker pays out 44.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. GE HealthCare Technologies has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years and Stryker has raised its dividend for 32 consecutive years. Stryker is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares GE HealthCare Technologies and Stryker”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GE HealthCare Technologies	$19.67 billion	1.93	$1.99 billion	$4.84	17.18
Stryker	$22.60 billion	5.96	$2.99 billion	$7.61	46.30

Stryker has higher revenue and earnings than GE HealthCare Technologies. GE HealthCare Technologies is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Stryker, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Stryker beats GE HealthCare Technologies on 14 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.

About GE HealthCare Technologies

GE HealthCare Technologies Inc. engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of products, services, and complementary digital solutions used in the diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of patients in the United States, Canada, and internationally. The company operates through four segments: Imaging, Ultrasound, Patient Care Solutions, and Pharmaceutical Diagnostics. The Imaging segment offers molecular imaging, computed tomography (CT) scanning, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, image-guided therapy, X-ray systems, and women’s health products. The Ultrasound segment provides medical devices and solutions for screening, diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring of certain diseases in clinical areas, such as radiology and primary care, women’s health, cardiovascular, and point of care and handheld ultrasound solutions, as well as surgical visualization and guidance products. The Patient Care Solutions segment provides medical devices, consumables, services, and digital solutions. Its portfolio includes patient monitoring solutions, anesthesia delivery and respiratory care products, electrocardiogram solutions, maternal infant care products, and consumables and services. The Pharmaceutical Diagnostics supplies diagnostic agents, including CT, angiography and X-ray, MR, single-photon emission computed tomography, positron emission tomography, and ultrasound to the radiology and nuclear medicine industry. The segment also provides contrast media pharmaceuticals that are administered to a patient prior to certain diagnostic scans to increase the visibility of tissues or structures during imaging exams; and molecular imaging agents or radiopharmaceuticals, which are molecular tracers labeled with radioisotopes. It has an AI collaboration with Mass General Brigham. The company was formerly known as GE Healthcare Holding LLC and changed its name to GE HealthCare Technologies Inc. in December 2022. The company was incorporated in 2022 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.

About Stryker

Stryker Corporation operates as a medical technology company. The company operates through two segments, MedSurg and Neurotechnology, and Orthopaedics and Spine. The Orthopaedics and Spine segment provides implants for use in total joint replacements, such as hip, knee and shoulder, and trauma and extremities surgeries. This segment also offers spinal implant products comprising cervical and thoracolumbar systems that include fixation, minimally invasive and interbody systems used in spinal injury, complex spine and degenerative therapies. The MedSurg and Neurotechnology segment offers surgical equipment, and surgical navigation systems, endoscopic and communications systems, patient handling, emergency medical equipment and intensive care disposable products, reprocessed and remanufactured medical devices, clinical communication and workflow solutions, and other medical device products that are used in various medical specialties, as well as patient and caregiver safety technologies. This segment also provides neurosurgical, neurovascular and craniomaxillofacial implant products, which include products used for minimally invasive endovascular procedures; products for brain and open skull based surgical procedures; orthobiologic and biosurgery products, such as synthetic bone grafts and vertebral augmentation products; minimally invasive products for the treatment of acute ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke; and craniomaxillofacial implant products, including cranial, maxillofacial, and chest wall devices, as well as dural substitutes and sealants. The company sells its products to doctors, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities through company-owned subsidiaries and branches, as well as third-party dealers and distributors in approximately 75 countries. Stryker Corporation was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Portage, Michigan.