Boston Scientific key statistics and ratios
In fiscal 2025, Boston Scientific had return on equity of 12.6%, an operating margin of 18.0%, debt equal to 47.2% of equity and a current ratio of 1.62. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.
Financial ratios
| Fiscal year | 2009Dec 2009 | 2010Dec 2010 | 2011Dec 2011 | 2012Dec 2012 | 2013Dec 2013 | 2014Dec 2014 | 2015Dec 2015 | 2016Dec 2016 | 2017Dec 2017 | 2018Dec 2018 | 2019Dec 2019 | 2020Dec 2020 | 2021Dec 2021 | 2022Dec 2022 | 2023Dec 2023 | 2024Dec 2024 | 2025Dec 2025 | LTMSept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 68.5% | 66.7% | 65.1% | 70.4% | 70.3% | 69.3% | 65.7% | 65.7% | 71.3% | 71.4% | 71.0% | 65.0% | 68.8% | 68.8% | 69.5% | 68.6% | 69.0% | 69.1% |
| Operating margin | −10.9% | −8.4% | 11.9% | −55.6% | 1.7% | −4.0% | −3.5% | 4.9% | 14.2% | 15.3% | 14.1% | −0.8% | 10.1% | 13.0% | 16.5% | 15.5% | 18.0% | 18.7% |
| Net margin | −12.5% | −13.6% | 5.8% | −58.5% | −1.7% | −1.6% | −3.0% | 3.8% | 1.1% | 17.0% | 43.8% | −1.2% | 8.3% | 5.1% | 11.0% | 11.1% | 14.4% | 16.6% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 6.4% | 0.7% | 9.2% | 15.1% | 12.2% | 13.5% | 5.5% | 8.9% | 12.2% | −0.1% | 12.8% | 11.4% | 11.1% | 7.4% | 12.6% | 15.8% | 18.2% | 15.8% |
| Return on equity | −8.3% | −9.0% | 3.9% | −44.6% | −1.8% | −1.8% | −3.7% | 5.3% | 1.5% | 21.2% | 41.6% | −0.8% | 6.2% | 3.8% | 8.5% | 9.0% | 12.6% | 14.0% |
| Return on assets | −4.1% | −4.5% | 2.0% | −21.2% | −0.7% | −0.7% | −1.4% | 1.9% | 0.6% | 8.3% | 18.2% | −0.4% | 3.1% | 2.0% | 4.6% | 5.0% | 7.0% | 7.9% |
| Asset turnover | 0.33 | 0.33 | 0.35 | 0.36 | 0.42 | 0.44 | 0.46 | 0.50 | 0.49 | 0.49 | 0.42 | 0.32 | 0.38 | 0.39 | 0.42 | 0.45 | 0.48 | 0.47 |
| Current ratio | 1.52 | 1.39 | 1.72 | 1.71 | 1.65 | 1.27 | 1.43 | 0.90 | 0.68 | 0.76 | 0.97 | 1.82 | 1.48 | 1.51 | 1.32 | 1.08 | 1.62 | 1.36 |
| Debt to equity | 48.1% | 48.2% | 37.5% | 62.0% | 64.8% | 65.7% | 89.8% | 84.2% | 80.1% | 80.9% | 72.1% | 59.7% | 54.5% | 50.8% | 47.2% | 49.4% | 47.2% | 46.6% |
| Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest) | n/m | n/m | 3.2x | n/m | 0.4x | n/m | n/m | 1.9x | 5.6x | 6.2x | 3.2x | n/m | 3.5x | 3.5x | 8.8x | 8.5x | 10.4x | 10.5x |
| Effective tax rate | — | — | 31.3% | — | — | — | — | — | 88.7% | −17.5% | — | — | 3.3% | 38.8% | 19.8% | 19.1% | 14.6% | 4.4% |
| R&D as % of revenue | 12.6% | 12.0% | 11.7% | 12.7% | 12.2% | 10.9% | 10.9% | 10.1% | 11.0% | 11.3% | 10.9% | 11.5% | 10.1% | 10.4% | 9.9% | 9.6% | 10.2% | 10.2% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 32.2% | 33.1% | 32.6% | 36.4% | 37.8% | 38.9% | 35.6% | 34.1% | 36.4% | 36.3% | 36.7% | 38.2% | 36.7% | 35.6% | 36.4% | 35.7% | 34.3% | 33.7% |
| Capital spending as % of revenue | 3.8% | 3.5% | 4.0% | 3.2% | 3.5% | 3.5% | 3.1% | 4.1% | 3.5% | 3.2% | 4.3% | 3.8% | 4.7% | 4.6% | 5.0% | 4.7% | 4.4% | 4.3% |
| Free cash flow ÷ net income | — | — | 159.6% | — | — | — | — | 232.3% | >999% | −0.4% | 29.3% | — | 133.6% | 146.1% | 114.1% | 142.7% | 126.2% | 95.1% |
| Dividends ÷ net income | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0.0% | 0.0% | — | 5.6% | 8.6% | 1.8% | 0.0% | — | — |
| Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow | — | — | 69.9% | 56.9% | 57.8% | 12.4% | 0.0% | 0.0% | — | — | 0.0% | 49.7% | 4.2% | 5.9% | 1.6% | 0.0% | — | — |
| Quarter | 2024 Q4Dec 2024 | 2025 Q1Mar 2025 | 2025 Q2Jun 2025 | 2025 Q3Sept 2025 | 2025 Q4Dec 2025 | 2026 Q1Mar 2026 | 2026 Q2Jun 2026 | 2026 Q3Sept 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 67.9% | 68.8% | 67.7% | 69.9% | 69.6% | 69.5% | 70.7% | 66.7% |
| Operating margin | 14.8% | 19.8% | 16.2% | 20.7% | 15.6% | 21.2% | 21.6% | 16.1% |
| Net margin | 12.4% | 14.5% | 15.7% | 14.9% | 12.7% | 25.8% | 16.7% | 11.3% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 25.8% | 7.6% | 22.3% | 22.9% | 19.2% | 3.3% | 23.5% | 16.9% |
| Current ratio | 1.08 | 1.45 | 1.37 | 1.51 | 1.62 | 1.90 | 1.24 | 1.36 |
| Debt to equity | 49.4% | 50.9% | 51.7% | 49.6% | 47.2% | 42.6% | 50.6% | 46.6% |
| R&D as % of revenue | 10.1% | 9.5% | 10.4% | 10.1% | 10.8% | 9.9% | 10.2% | 10.1% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 35.3% | 34.2% | 33.9% | 34.4% | 34.7% | 34.2% | 33.1% | 32.8% |
Financial health
- Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $8.2bn of assets due within a year against $6.0bn of liabilities due within a year.
- Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities Not assessable from the reported split. Not assessable.
- More cash than debt $609m of cash against $12.0bn of debt.
- Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 47% of equity.
- Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 54% to 47% over five years.
- A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $4.2bn of operating cash flow against $12.0bn of debt.
- Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $3.9bn against $376m of interest.
Moat
Strong moat
How hard Boston Scientific's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.
- Returns on capital 16 / 20
Cash operating profit has been a median 12.6% of total assets over 10 years.
- Pricing power 20 / 20
Gross margin has been a median 68.9%, moving by 1.7 percentage points (standard deviation) across 10 years.
- Durability 5 / 20
Operating margin has been a median 15.7%; its worst year was 0.8%.
- Cash conversion 16 / 20
Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 11.7% of revenue.
- Discipline 16 / 20
The diluted share count rose 3.6% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 1.6% of revenue.
AI disruption exposure: Low. In this industry, the business rests on physical assets, regulated networks or products AI itself depends on.
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