HOLX vs BDX Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
HOLX (Hologic) is a women's health specialist with leading positions in mammography and molecular diagnostics, while BDX (Becton Dickinson) is a large diversified medical device company spanning everything from syringes to cardiovascular devices. Hologic offers focused women's health purity; BD offers broad medical device and diagnostic diversification at scale.
HOLX vs BDX is focused women's health diagnostics and surgical devices (Hologic's mammography and molecular testing franchise) versus diversified medical device and diagnostics conglomerate (BD's essential medical supplies, lab systems, and interventional devices).
BDX holds the edge across 3 of 5 key metrics in this comparison. HOLX has delivered stronger 1-year price return (+24.06% vs +16.84%), though BDX has the better forward P/E setup (13.38x vs 15.59x for HOLX). On fundamentals, BDX is growing revenue faster (5.40%), while HOLX maintains the higher operating margin (22.99%) — a classic growth-versus-profitability split. Analyst consensus implies meaningfully more upside for BDX (+10.02%) than for HOLX (+1.34%).
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want women's health diagnostics and medical imaging leadership through Hologic's Genius mammography, ThinPrep, and Panther molecular platforms
- Value Hologic's recurring reagent revenue model from Panther instrument placements as a high-margin, stable base business
- See women's health diagnostics as a relatively protected specialty niche with leadership positions difficult for general-purpose medical device companies to dislodge
- Want diversified medical device exposure across medication delivery, laboratory diagnostics, and interventional cardiovascular with global scale and essential product positioning
- Value BD's recurring consumable revenue from essential everyday medical supplies (syringes, blood tubes) as a stable, non-discretionary base business
- See BD Interventional's electrophysiology and cardiovascular growth as the higher-margin, faster-growing segment within BD's diversified portfolio
| Metric | HOLX | BDX |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 37.5 | 42.3 |
| AI ranki | #1525 | #1232 |
| Latest closei | $76.01 | $209.19 |
| 1M returni | +0.36% | +15.79% |
| 3M returni | +1.69% | +22.58% |
| 6M returni | +12.87% | +44.51% |
| 1Y returni | +24.06% | +16.84% |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | HOLX | BDX |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $13K (+30.0%) started 2025-04-08 | $11.86K (+18.6%) started 2025-11-05 |
| 5Y ago | $10.33K (+3.3%) started 2021-04-08 | $9.74K (-2.6%) started 2021-11-08 |
| 10Y ago | $21.49K (+114.9%) started 2016-04-08 | $15.48K (+54.8%) started 2016-11-07 |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | HOLX | BDX |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $16.89B | $48.44B |
| Trailing P/Ei | 31.39 | 30.77 |
| Forward P/Ei | 15.59 | 13.38 |
| Price/Salesi | N/A | N/A |
| EV/Revenuei | 4.13 | 2.87 |
| Analyst targeti | $76.67 | $195.67 |
| Target upsidei | +1.34% | +10.02% |
| Metric | HOLX | BDX |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 2.50% | 5.40% |
| Earnings growthi | -9.20% | -31.40% |
| EPS growthi | -9.20% | -31.40% |
| FCF margini | +20.56% | +19.92% |
| Operating margini | 22.99% | 15.73% |
| Profit margini | 13.18% | 4.19% |
| ROIC proxyi | 10.86% | 6.61% |
| Return on equityi | 10.86% | 6.61% |
| Dividend yieldi | N/A | 2.36% |
| Payout ratioi | N/A | 72.49% |
| Dividend growth streaki | N/A | No increase yet |
| Betai | 0.70 | 0.28 |
| Debt/equityi | 48.05 | 68.84 |
| Current ratioi | 4.04 | 0.86 |
| Quick ratioi | 3.10 | 0.33 |
Over the past year, HOLX and BDX have moved barely in the same direction (correlation of 0.09), based on daily returns.
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | HOLX | BDX |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +30.02% | +18.60% |
| CAGRi | +30.10% | +18.62% | |
| Volatilityi | 24.39% | 31.54% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 1.02 | 0.57 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.89 | 0.78 | |
| Max drawdowni | 11.09% | 33.00% | |
| Current drawdowni | 0.00% | 0.40% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 1.46% | 15.65% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 2.51% | 19.11% | |
| Max daily dropi | 5.45% | 17.22% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 9.21% | 16.86% | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +3.30% | -7.76% |
| CAGRi | +0.65% | -1.61% | |
| Volatilityi | 23.09% | 25.31% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | -0.05 | -0.11 | |
| Sortino ratioi | -0.07 | -0.15 | |
| Max drawdowni | 39.85% | 48.93% | |
| Current drawdowni | 13.30% | 24.07% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 13.83% | 18.59% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 15.85% | 22.63% | |
| Max daily dropi | 10.10% | 18.13% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 12.73% | 20.00% | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +114.90% | +36.12% |
| CAGRi | +7.95% | +3.13% | |
| Volatilityi | 26.49% | 24.57% | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.25 | 0.07 | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.35 | 0.09 | |
| Max drawdowni | 46.24% | 48.93% | |
| Current drawdowni | 13.30% | 24.07% | |
| Avg drawdowni | 11.72% | 13.20% | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 14.26% | 17.37% | |
| Max daily dropi | 20.53% | 18.13% | |
| Max wkly dropi | 32.34% | 20.00% |
| Category | HOLX | BDX |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Hologic, Inc. | Becton, Dickinson and Company |
| Sector | Healthcare | Healthcare |
| Industry | N/A | Medical Instruments & Supplies |
| Core business | Hologic is a medical technology company focused on improving women's health through diagnostics, medical imaging, and surgical products — including mammography systems (Genius 3D Mammography), molecular diagnostics (ThinPrep Pap tests, Panther system for STI and respiratory testing), and minimally invasive gynecological surgical instruments. | Becton Dickinson (BD) is one of the world's largest medical device companies, producing syringes, needles, catheters, diagnostic testing systems, lab automation, medication management systems, and interventional cardiovascular devices — serving hospitals, laboratories, physician offices, and pharmacies globally. |
| Investor focus | Investors track Hologic's organic diagnostics revenue growth, surgical segment margins, mammography system placements, and the post-COVID normalization of molecular diagnostics volumes following the COVID testing-driven revenue surge. | Investors track BD's organic revenue growth by segment (BD Medical, BD Life Sciences, BD Interventional), operating margin expansion, debt reduction from recent acquisitions, and free cash flow for dividends and reinvestment. |
- Category leadership in women's health diagnostics — Hologic's Genius 3D mammography system and ThinPrep Pap test are market-leading screening tools for breast cancer and cervical cancer
- Panther molecular testing platform generates recurring reagent revenue from instrument placements — a high-margin, recurring revenue model from testing consumables
- Women's health focus provides a relatively defensible specialty niche less crowded by general-purpose medical device competitors
- Diversified medical device portfolio across medication delivery (syringes), lab diagnostics, and interventional cardiovascular serves multiple healthcare workflow touchpoints
- Essential everyday medical supplies (syringes, catheters, blood collection tubes) provide highly recurring, non-discretionary revenue from hospital supply chains worldwide
- BD Interventional's electrophysiology and peripheral vascular devices address growing cardiovascular procedure markets with higher-margin medical devices
- COVID molecular testing revenue was an extraordinary one-time surge — post-COVID normalized testing volumes are significantly below COVID-era peaks, creating a challenging year-over-year comparison
- Mammography market penetration is mature in the U.S. — growth must come from 3D upgrade cycles, international expansion, or adjacent screening modalities
- Surgical segment revenue depends on procedure volume and reimbursement — changes in OB/GYN procedure reimbursement rates can affect Hologic's surgical business
- BD has significant acquisition-driven debt (C.R. Bard acquisition in 2017 was approximately $24 billion) that constrains balance sheet flexibility and requires sustained free cash flow for de-leveraging
- The Embecta spin-off (diabetes care devices) and other divestitures reflect portfolio simplification — investors must re-evaluate the remaining BD portfolio without divested segments
- Medical device pricing pressure from hospital systems' supply chain consolidation and GPOs (group purchasing organizations) limits pricing power on commodity medical supplies
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