STRYKER CORP (SYK)

Stryker Corporation is a global medical technology company that offers products and services in MedSurg, Neurotechnology and Orthopaedics, aimed at improving patient and healthcare outcomes. It was incorporated in Michigan in 1946 as the successor to a business founded in 1941 by Dr. Homer H. Stryker, an orthopaedic surgeon and inventor of several medical products. Its products include surgical equipment and navigation systems, endoscopic and communications systems, patient handling and emergency medical equipment, implants for joint replacement and trauma surgery, and Mako robotic-arm assisted technology.

Stryker reports two segments. MedSurg and Neurotechnology generated $15,647 million of 2025 net sales (62% of the total of $25,116 million). It covers Instruments (surgical equipment, patient and caregiver safety technologies, navigation systems), Endoscopy (endoscopic and communications systems), Medical (patient handling, emergency medical equipment, intensive care disposables, clinical communication and AI-assisted virtual care technology), Vascular (minimally invasive products for acute ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke and venous thromboembolism) and Neuro Cranial (products for brain and open skull-based procedures, orthobiologics, biosurgery, synthetic bone grafts and vertebral augmentation). Orthopaedics generated $9,469 million (38%), mainly from implants for knee, hip, shoulder and ankle replacement and for trauma and extremities surgery, plus spinal implants. In 2025 Trauma and Extremities was the largest orthopaedic line at 42% of segment sales, followed by Knees at 28% and Hips at 20%. Recent developments include the Mako 4 platform, Mako Shoulder, and the acquisitions of Inari Medical, Guard Medical and Advanced Medical Balloons.

Products are sold in approximately 61 countries through company-owned subsidiaries and branches as well as third-party dealers and distributors. Most are marketed directly to doctors, hospitals and other healthcare facilities. The company says its activities reach more than 150 million patients. Mako SmartRobotics is available in more than 45 countries. The business is generally not seasonal, though orthopaedic implant surgeries are typically lower in summer and capital equipment sales are generally higher in the fourth quarter.

Raw materials are generally available from multiple sources, though some come from single suppliers. Substantially all manufactured products are held in inventory, and certain MedSurg products are assembled to order. Stryker owned approximately 5,600 U.S. patents and 9,000 patents in other countries at December 31, 2025. It competes with local and global companies in every product line. Named competitors include Zimmer Biomet, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson MedTech, Smith & Nephew, CONMED Linvatec, Karl Storz, Olympus, Arthrex, STERIS, Baxter, Zoll Medical, Medline, Terumo and Penumbra. Its businesses are subject to government regulation in each country where they operate.