Medtronic Stock Tanks: Why the Medical Giant Just Got Wall Street’s Cold Shoulder

Another day, another blue-chip getting its wings clipped. Medtronic shares just took a nosedive—and the market's not exactly rushing to catch them.

Earnings Whiff Spooks Investors

The medtech titan posted numbers that left analysts colder than a surgical tray. Revenue missed. Guidance? Trimmed. And just like that, confidence in the steady-eddy stock evaporated faster than disinfectant in a OR.

Procedure Slowdown Bites Hard

Elective surgeries aren’t bouncing back like everyone hoped. Hospitals are tightening belts—postponing capital expenditures, delaying upgrades. Medtronic’s hardware-heavy portfolio felt the squeeze. No amount of innovation theater offsets empty procedure rooms.

Wall Street’s Love Affair Cools

Once a darling for defensive portfolios, Medtronic’s now getting the side-eye from funds that prize growth over nostalgia. When your ‘moat’ starts looking more like a puddle, institutions bolt. Funny how loyalty lasts exactly as long as the last quarter’s EPS.

Medtronic’s not circling the drain—but it’s a stark reminder that in medtech, past performance just buys you a nicer seat on the struggle bus. Maybe they should’ve hodl’d some Bitcoin instead.

Image source: Getty Images.

Medtronic Q1 earnings

Sales at the Ireland-based Maker of medical equipment grew 8% year over year, of which almost 5% was organic growth. Earnings, however, didn't.

Medtronic's $0.81 per-share profit under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) was weaker than its adjusted number (its $1.26 headline figure). Earnings also increased only 1% year over year, far slower than sales growth.

Is the stock a buy?

The good news is that CEO Geoff Martha says revenue growth will probably accelerate in the second half of fiscal 2026. The bad news is that it also might not accelerate at all.

Turning to guidance, the company forecasts 5% organic sales growth for the full year, a bit better than in the first quarter, but total revenue growth for the year of only 6.5% to 6.8%. And that's less than the 8% growth seen in the first quarter.

Management says earnings will increase, and it's raising guidance to predict per-share profits between $5.60 and $5.66 this year. But these are only adjusted figures and represent only 4.5% earnings growth year over year -- which would be slower than sales growth and imply narrowing profit margins.

The worst news of all for investors, though, is that Medtronic stock costs a rich 25 times trailing earnings today, and that's probably too much to pay for single-digit growth in both sales and earnings.