Stryker Accelerated Sales Growth as Margins Rebounded
Adjusted earnings rose 17.9% to $3.69 a share in the second quarter.
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Stryker Corp. (SYK), the medical-technology company, accelerated second-quarter sales growth to 9.4% as unit volumes recovered from a cyber-incident-affected first quarter.
Net sales rose to $6.589 billion from a year earlier, following 2.6% growth in the first quarter and trailing the fourth quarter’s 11.4% pace. Organic growth rebounded to 9.0% from 2.4% in the prior quarter, with the increase coming entirely from unit volume.
Reported net earnings increased 44.3% to $1.276 billion, and diluted earnings rose 44.1% to $3.30 a share. Adjusted net earnings climbed 17.6% to $1.4 billion, reversing an 8.5% first-quarter decline.
MedSurg and Neurotechnology led the recovery, with organic growth rising to 9.2% from 0.9% in the first quarter. Unit volume contributed 9.1 percentage points of the second-quarter increase, while pricing added 0.1 point.
Orthopaedics organic growth accelerated to 8.6% from 4.1%, slightly exceeding the fourth quarter’s 8.4% pace, with the second-quarter increase driven by volume. International sales rose 11.0%, outpacing the 8.9% increase in the United States; on a constant-currency basis, the rates were 9.2% and 8.9%, respectively.
Adjusted operating margin recovered to 27.4% from 21.1% in the first quarter and expanded 170 basis points from a year earlier. Reported operating margin rose to 25.2% from 18.5%, while reported gross margin widened 450 basis points to 68.3%.
Stryker now expects 2026 organic sales growth of 8.3% to 9.3%, narrowing its previous 8.0% to 9.5% range. Adjusted earnings guidance is $14.95 to $15.10 a share, compared with the prior range of $14.90 to $15.10.
Structural-optimization and other special charges affecting operating income increased to $95 million from $11 million a year earlier, partly reflecting $70 million of other charges. Goodwill and other impairments declined to $1 million from $55 million.