Stryker raises full-year guidance despite muted investor reaction

Stryker announced it’s raising its full-year guidance following a strong second quarter that beat Wall Street expectations, driven by continued demand for its surgical and orthopedic devices. However, investor reaction was muted, with SYK shares falling more than 5% in after-hours trading – suggesting the market had priced in stronger results or was looking for more optimistic forward guidance.

The Michigan-based medtech giant reported net earnings of $884 million, or $2.29 per share, on $6.022 billion in sales for the quarter ended June 30, 2025. That marked a 7.2% increase in net income and an 11.1% jump in revenue compared with Q2 2024.

On an adjusted basis, Stryker posted earnings of $3.13 per share – 6 cents ahead of analysts' consensus estimate of $3.07. Revenue also topped expectations, with Wall Street anticipating $5.93 billion for the quarter.

“We again delivered double-digit sales and adjusted earnings per share growth in the second quarter,” CEO Kevin A. Lobo said in a statement. “Our strong sales and earnings power reflect demand for our products, our durable innovation pipeline and ongoing operational execution.”

Segment performance

Stryker’s MedSurg and Neurotechnology unit saw sales rise 17.3% year-over-year to $3.8 billion. Orthopedics, meanwhile, generated $2.2 billion in revenue, up just 2.0%. Excluding the impact of the recently divested U.S. spine implant business, however, orthopedic sales would have been up 10.7%.

Stryker completed the sale of its U.S. spine business to Viscogliosi Brothers in April. The new entity, VS Spine, announced today it’s expanding into Australia and New Zealand as it finalizes the purchase of Stryker’s international spine operations.

Updated outlook

Stryker now expects full-year sales growth of 9.5% to 10%, up from prior guidance of 8.5% to 9.5%. Adjusted EPS is now projected to be in the range of $13.40 to $13.60 – an improvement from previous guidance of $13.20 to $13.45.

The company also trimmed its expected tariff-related impact on earnings for the year to $175 million, down from $200 million. Management cited easing trade tensions, including a reduction in U.S.-China bilateral tariffs and the newly announced U.S.-E.U. tariff framework.

Despite the raised guidance, the updated EPS range remains slightly below the $13.45 to $13.70 range forecasted earlier this year, which may have contributed to the market’s cautious response.