STERIS plc
STE · Healthcare · $21.3B mkt cap · FY2026 filings · Shallow moat ·
Doesn't clear the bar
The four filters
Median gross margin 43.4% over 10y, very stable.
Median ROIC 7.9%, above the 9% hurdle in 40% of years.
Net debt/EBITDA 0.9x, interest coverage 18x.
Owner earnings +24.5%/yr, share count growing (dilution).
Margin of safety
- Owner earnings (normalized)
- $583.1M
- Est. intrinsic value / share
- $107.32
- Recent price
- $217.84
- Discount to value
- 103% above value
Conservative model: 9% discount rate, 4% assumed growth (capped at 4%), maintenance capex ≈ min(capex, D&A).
11 years of fundamentals
The business, in plain English
STERIS plc booked $5.9B of revenue in FY2026 in the Healthcare sector and kept 44.2% of it as gross profit — a solid-margin business by that measure. After every other cost, 13.2% of each revenue dollar reached the bottom line.
Across the filed record, revenue grew from $2.6B (FY2017) to $5.9B (FY2026) — about 9.5% a year compounded over 9 years.
It earned 9.5% on invested capital in FY2026, with a median of 7.9% across 10 filed years. The Returns on Capital filter above scores it 27/100.
The balance sheet carried $1.9B of total debt in FY2026 against $899.8M of owner earnings — roughly 2.1 years of owner earnings to retire it all. Balance-Sheet Safety scores it 82/100.
The share count rose 15.4% between FY2018 and FY2026 — existing owners have been diluted over the record. Capital Discipline scores it 60/100.
Put together: Balance-Sheet Safety is the strongest of the four filters (82/100) and Returns on Capital the weakest (27/100), which is how STE lands at 59/100 — a Shallow moat.
This breakdown is generated from the filed numbers and sub-scores above — no outside narrative, no estimates. Where a filing doesn’t disclose an input, the sentence that would need it is omitted instead of guessed.
Gaps in a line mean that item isn’t in STE’s filings for that year — the series is never interpolated or estimated. The Table view lists every filed value, including operating and net margins, total debt, and share count.
Moat Score history
Score history begins Jul 17, 2026 — the record builds from here and can’t be backfilled.
Tier changesSame-methodology crossings of the Wide / Narrow / Shallow bars
None yet — STE has read Shallow moat for every logged capture since Jul 17, 2026.
Scores are logged append-only and never overwritten — this record can’t be backfilled, which is exactly why it’s worth keeping.
Healthcare context
#81 of 440 scored Healthcare companies, ranked by Moat Score.
Nearest peers by Moat Score
- #79BSX BOSTON SCIENTIFIC CORP59.0 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
- #80PEN Penumbra, Inc58.5 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
- #82SNYR Synergy CHC Corp.58.3 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
- #83ANIP ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc.58.2 out of 100, Shallow moatShallow moat
Compare STE with its nearest peers →All Healthcare companies on the Index →
Common questions about STE
- Does STERIS plc have an economic moat?
- Based on its FY2026 SEC filings, the Moat Index scores STERIS plc (STE) 58.5 out of 100 — a Shallow moat. The four filters behind that score (each 0–100): pricing power 73, returns on capital 27, balance-sheet safety 82, capital discipline 60.
- Is STE stock trading below its intrinsic value?
- Against a deliberately conservative owner-earnings model (9% discount rate, 4% assumed growth, capped at 4%), estimated intrinsic value is $107.32 per share versus a recent price of $217.84 — 103% above value. This is an educational estimate computed from primary SEC filings, not investment advice.
- How has STE's Moat Score changed over time?
- The record logs 3 readings since Jul 17, 2026; the latest reads 58.5 out of 100 (shallow moat). No tier changes on record yet. The history is append-only — readings are only ever added, never rewritten.