Stryker is moving down today after reporting first-quarter 2026 results that came in below Wall Street expectations, triggering a reassessment of near-term growth and profitability. The quarter was pressured by softer demand in certain procedure categories and by operational disruption tied to the company’s cybersecurity incident disclosed on March 11, 2026, which weighed on manufacturing absorption and profitability.

Stryker reported first-quarter 2026 net sales of about $6.02 billion (up 2.6% year over year; organic growth about 2.4%) and adjusted diluted EPS of $2.60 (down about 8.5% year over year). Profitability also contracted, with adjusted gross margin around 63.6% and adjusted operating margin around 21.1%, reflecting production inefficiencies tied to the cyber event as well as tariff impacts.

Management maintained its full-year 2026 outlook, calling for organic net sales growth of 8% to 9.5% and adjusted EPS of $14.90 to $15.10, and indicated it expects much of the first-quarter disruption-related lost sales to be realized later in the year. Even with guidance unchanged, the market is treating the combination of a revenue/EPS miss and margin compression as evidence that execution risk and cost pressures may persist into the coming quarters.

Investors will be focused on whether procedure volumes rebound in higher-acuity categories and whether Stryker can normalize manufacturing and logistics after the cyber disruption without further margin leakage. Additional downside catalysts could include incremental costs tied to remediation and tighter hospital capital spending, while upside would likely require clear signs of catch-up revenue conversion and operating margin stabilization through the next quarter.