CluenexSteris STE
Steris scores average on business quality (5.7 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Steris does
STERIS sells infection prevention and sterilization products, surgical equipment, and related services to hospitals and medical device manufacturers. Customers pay recurring fees for consumable products and equipment maintenance.
- What it does best
STERIS dominates hospital-grade sterilization and infection prevention, backed by a gross margin of 44.4%. Hospitals rarely switch providers because requalifying sterilization equipment carries immense regulatory risk and patient safety liabilities, locking in long-term service contracts.
- The main risk
A stretched valuation at $208.54 against an intrinsic value of $166.04 leaves no margin for error if hospital capital spending slows down, exposing shareholders to multiple contraction.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin stands at 19.0% with an ROE of 11.3%, ranking in the middle of its sector. Profitability scales moderately as revenue grows, supported by recurring service revenues.
A middle-of-the-pack operating margin sector percentile of 57 reflects a modest competitive moat built on regulatory compliance and hospital customer switching costs that take years to overcome.
Revenue growth stands at 8.7% with total revenue at $6.0B, building on a history of steady annual top-line gains from $4.9B in 2023.
Debt-to-equity sits at 0.3 with interest coverage at 18.9x, meaning debt costs are manageable. Free cash flow reached $925M, showing solid cash generation that is getting stronger.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
1 sold $957K outside pre-planned sales.
Our sealed record on STE
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
Steris scores average on the Cluenex quality check (5.7 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is fair, moat fair, growth steady and financial health strong.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 1 sold $957K outside pre-planned sales.
Nov 3, 2026.
See STE today
- Today's verdict on STE, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “Steris (STE)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/ste/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.