Healthcare

General Medical Devices

36 investable US stocks · data to Saturday, October 24, 2026

Acquirer's Multiple percentile today73rd percentile

Dearer than in 97% of quarters since 1999Its usual range since 1999 is the 48th to 68th percentile (the middle 80% of quarters), with a median of the 59th. Lower is cheaper: the 10th percentile is cheaper than 90% of the investable US market; the 50th is the middle.

Is it cheap because returns are depressed?

The industry is dear against its own past, and even though returns on assets are depressed (lower than in 99% of quarters). Free cash flow yield is low (lower than in 93% of quarters), so the cash doesn't support the premium. A low multiple can be warranted when returns on assets are low, and a high one when they are high, so the multiple reads best next to returns and free cash flow, each against the industry's own history.

Over- or under-earning?

Under-earning

Return on assets ranks at the 25th percentile of investable US stocks, against a median of the 57th and a low of the 21st since 1999. That is well below its usual level, so it may be under-earning, and today's multiple is likely too high on a normalized basis. If earnings normalize, the multiple would likely fall: from the 73rd percentile today (dearer than 73% of investable US stocks) to around the 59th (dearer than 59% of investable US stocks), judging by where it sat in past quarters when returns were at their usual level. If returns fell to their low, it would be around the 73rd (dearer than 73% of investable US stocks).

Percentile	Today	Returns normal	Returns at low
Return on assets (higher is better)	25th	57th (median)	21st (low)
Acquirer's Multiple (lower is cheaper)	73rd	59th	73rd

General Medical Devices's return on assets as a percentile, quarterly since 1999. The shaded band is its usual range; the dashed line its median.

Percentiles among investable US stocks. Return on assets is operating income over total assets, trailing 12 months. The last two columns show where it sat in past quarters when returns were within 7.5 points of their median (58 quarters) and of their low (8). The past, not a forecast.

Against its own history

Each chart is the industry's median stock as a percentile of all investable US stocks, quarterly since 1999. For the Acquirer's Multiple and debt to equity, lower is better. The shaded band is its usual range (the middle 80% of quarters); the dashed line is its long-run median; the dot is today. Green shading marks the better end of each scale and red the worse, and today's dot takes the colour of where it sits.

Acquirer's MultipleNear its dearestPercentile of enterprise value ÷ operating income: lower is cheaper. Dearer than in 97% of quarters since 1999.

Free cash flow yieldNear its lowestPercentile of free cash flow yield: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 93% of quarters since 1999.

Shareholder yieldLower than usualDividends plus buybacks, as a percentile: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 86% of quarters since 1999.

Dividend yieldUsual rangePercentile of dividend yield: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 59% of quarters since 1999.

Return on assets, 5-yrNear its weakestPercentile of five-year return on assets: higher is better. Lower than in 99% of quarters since 1999.

Debt to equityMore debt than usualPercentile of debt to equity: lower is less debt. More indebted than in 80% of quarters since 1999.

Company sizeSmaller than usualPercentile of market cap: higher is larger. Smaller than in 84% of quarters since 1999.

General Medical Devices stocks in the screens today

In today's screens, cheapest first. ● marks one of a screen's 30 tracked picks.

Stock	Screen	Acquirer's Multiple	FCF yield	Shareholder yield

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Other Healthcare industries

Non-System-Specific Biopharmaceuticals cheaper than 77%Other Biopharmaceuticals cheaper than 75%Other Medical Devices cheaper than 69%Diagnostics and Drug Delivery Devices dearer than 51%System-Specific Biopharmaceuticals dearer than 59%Patient Care dearer than 73%Healthcare Support Services dearer than 79%Outsourced Development and Manufacturing Services dearer than 79%Miscellaneous Healthcare dearer than 93%

Quarterly since 1999 from point-in-time data. Each quarter, every investable US stock (price above $3, market cap above $75M, average daily trading above $850,000, no OTC, ADRs or MLPs) is placed in a percentile (0-100) against all the others on each metric. An industry's value is the median percentile of its stocks. Industries follow FactSet's RBICS classification. Percentiles describe the past; they are not investment advice or a forecast.