8 companies · median 21 of 36 checks · prices as of 2026-10-23
Medical device stocks.
Sorted by how many checks each one passes. Sort by any column to see who is cheapest, who is growing, or who has the strongest balance sheet - and how that compares with what is normal for the industry.
Ranked by checks passed
8 companies in this sector→The instrument and medical device companies we cover are not one trade: Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) passes 30 of its 36 checks and Intuitive Machines (LUNR) passes 4, with a median of 21.
→TMO, ISRG, MMM are 77% of the $646.4B we cover here, so a sector average says more about them than about the rest.
| Save | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Intuitive SurgicalISRGMakes the da Vinci surgical robots and earns most of its money on their instruments.Report | +1.9% | -14.2% | 2 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 30/36 | |
 DexComDXCMMakes continuous glucose monitors for people with diabetes.Report | -0.5% | +10.2% | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 26/36 | |
 Thermo Fisher ScientificTMOSells instruments, consumables and services to laboratories and drug developers.Report | -0.4% | +19.2% | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 25/36 | |
 Northrop GrummanNOCBuilds the B-21 bomber, nuclear missiles, spacecraft and defense electronics for the Pentagon.Report | -0.2% | -6.0% | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 25/36 | |
 3MMMMMakes industrial adhesives, safety equipment and consumer brands like Post-it and Scotch.Report | -1.2% | +5.6% | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 16/36 | |
 Nautilus BiotechnologyNAUTDeveloping an instrument to analyze proteins at scale, pre-revenue.Report | +24.6% | +157.1% | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 10/36 | |
 CoherentCOHRMakes optical transceivers, lasers and engineered materials for data centers, industry and communications.Report | +0.7% | +81.4% | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 9/36 | |
 Intuitive MachinesLUNRBuilds lunar landers and space data networks, mostly for NASA.Report | +0.7% | -7.3% | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4/36 |
The filings behind this table close between 2026-06-27 and 2026-09-30, because these companies do not share a fiscal calendar; prices are the close of 2026-10-23. Each name links to its full report; every score is a count of pass-or-fail checks read from that company's own filings.
Where the sector falls short
median score per axis→Value is where the instrument and medical device companies we cover come up short most often, at a median of 0 of 6, while Quality runs at 5.
| Value | ○○○○○○ | 0 of 6 |
| Growth | ●●●○○○ | 3 of 6 |
| Quality | ●●●●●○ | 5 of 6 |
| Financial health | ●●●●○○ | 4 of 6 |
| Shareholder returns | ●●●●○○ | 4 of 6 |
| Trend | ●●●●○○ | 4 of 6 |
What a normal margin looks like here
sector percentiles · 133 filers→Gross margin clusters among instrument and medical device companies, from 47% to 67% across the middle of the field, with a midpoint of 58% measured over 133 filers.
| Metric | Bottom third | Midpoint | Top third |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin n=133 | 47.4% | 57.7% | 66.9% |
| Operating margin n=155 | -9.8% | 5.4% | 13.5% |
| Net margin n=159 | -9.9% | 1.6% | 10.4% |
| Return on equity n=151 | -12.2% | 1.5% | 10.3% |
Who grows, and who keeps it
every company in the industry→ISRG, DXCM do both: growing faster than this industry's middle and keeping more of each sale than it does. The industry's middle is 7% growth on a 17% margin. NOC does neither.
A year of price
not a fact about the business→5 of 8 are up over twelve months and the median move is +7.9% - Nautilus Biotechnology (NAUT) at +157.1% against Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) at -14.2%. Price is not a fact about a business, and the Trend chapter of each report says what it is measured on.
Head to head
3 pairsThe table above gives the order. These put two of them in one column each, so you can see where the difference actually is.