ALC vs. MDLN: Alcon vs. Medline Stock Comparison

Company Profile

Alcon (ALC) and Medline (MDLN) are both classified in the Health Care Supplies sub-industry within the broader Health Care Equipment & Supplies industry, placing them in the closest GICS peer bucket.

Alcon (ALC) has been public since April 9, 2019 with a meaningfully longer listed history, while Medline (MDLN) only listed on December 17, 2025 — long-window metrics on the MDLN side should be interpreted with caution.

Price Performance

Cumulative Growth

Trailing Returns

Calendar-Year Returns

Performance Metrics

Risk Profile

Drawdown History

Return Distribution

Risk Metrics

Medline (MDLN) reports a negative beta of -0.93, suggesting inverse market sensitivity over the measurement window. That is uncommon for ordinary equities and can reflect commodity-linked or hedge-like exposure, but it can also come from statistical noise. Alcon (ALC) has a non-negative beta of 0.84.

Risk-Adjusted Performance

Risk-Return Positioning

Both ALC and MDLN need 1-year volatility and 1-year return to plot risk-return positioning.

Risk-Adjusted Metrics

Profitability

Both Alcon (ALC) at 2.94% and Medline (MDLN) at 4.85% land near their industries’ usual ROE ranges, so capital efficiency looks broadly in line with peers on both sides.

Both Alcon (ALC) at 5.92% and Medline (MDLN) at 1.85% keep about the typical share of revenue as profit for their industries — neither bottom line stands out from peers.

Alcon (ALC) at 14.63% operates in the top operating margin quartile, ahead of Medline (MDLN) at 5.22%, which runs around its industry’s norm.

Profitability Metrics

Growth

Only one side can be read here: Alcon (ALC) reports revenue growth of 4.94%, ranked against its industry; Medline (MDLN) has no revenue growth figure this period.

Medline (MDLN) at 117.38% clears its industry range for EPS growth, a much stronger earnings trajectory than Alcon (ALC) at -3.41%, which is closer to a typical peer reading.

Growth Metrics

Financial Strength

Alcon (ALC) at 2.09 keeps current ratio within its industry’s typical mid-range, while Medline (MDLN) at 4.04 sits above its industry’s typical mid-range — comfortable liquidity, though possibly with more idle current assets relative to peers.

Both Alcon (ALC) at 0.25 and Medline (MDLN) at 0.65 fund their balance sheets with roughly industry-typical debt-to-equity mixes.

Financial Strength Metrics

Dividends

Medline (MDLN) pays no dividend (yield 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile Alcon (ALC) reports a yield of 0.46%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Medline (MDLN) pays no dividend (payout 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile Alcon (ALC) reports a payout of 26.56%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Dividend Metrics

Valuation

Both look expensive on trailing earnings: Alcon (ALC) at 56.77 sits in the richer P/E ratio quartile, and Medline (MDLN) at 90.09 is richer still, above its industry range.

On P/S ratio, both Alcon (ALC) at 3.34 and Medline (MDLN) at 1.70 are priced roughly in line with their industries — neither looks cheap nor rich on a sales basis.

Alcon (ALC) at 1.68 sits in the lower P/B ratio quartile against book while Medline (MDLN) at 2.95 is valued near its industry’s middle — ALC is cheaper on assets, though weigh it against ROE and asset quality.

Valuation Metrics