What’s Happening With Boston Scientific Stock?

Boston Scientific stock (NYSE: BSX) has risen 3% in the five days following its Q4 earnings release last week. Despite exceeding expectations with both its results and guidance, the stock’s relatively small gain likely reflects the substantial price increase it experienced in the lead-up to the earnings announcement. BSX stock is up 19% year-to-date.

Even if we look at a slightly longer time frame, BSX has been an outperformer, up 129% since early January 2023 – jumping from levels of $46 then to around $106 now – vs. an increase of 58% for the S&P 500 over this period. This can primarily be attributed to:

1. a 56% rise in the company’s trailing P/E ratio to 42x now, versus 27x in 2022; and
2. 2. a 47% jump in its earnings per share from $1.71 to $2.51 over this period.

While we discuss these factors in the sections below, if you want upside with a smoother ride than an individual stock, consider the High-Quality portfolio, which has outperformed the S&P, and clocked >91% returns since inception.

Boston Scientific’s revenue rose 32% from $12.7 billion in 2022 to $16.7 billion in 2024, driven by an uptick in total procedures and the launch of new products, such as POLARx and Vercise. Watchman is an important product line within the cardiovascular segment. Watchman FLX has been driving the sales growth lately for Boston Scientific. Not only did the company see strong sales growth, its adjusted operating margin also expanded from 25.6% in 2022 to 27.0% in 2024. Higher revenues clubbed with margin expansion resulted in the company’s bottom line expanding 47% from $1.71 to $2.51 over this period.

Looking at the latest results, Boston Scientific’s sales grew a solid 18% y-o-y in 2024, driven by a 22% jump in its cardiovascular segment, and a 10.5% rise for its MedSurg segment, which includes endoscopy, urology, and neuromodulation. Boston Scientific’s operating margin expanded by 75 bps y-o-y to 27% for the full-year 2024. This aided its bottom line, which came in at $2.51, up 22%. Boston Scientific expects its sales to rise by 13.5% and adjusted earnings to be in the area of $2.84, at the mid-point of the provided range. Both of these metrics were slightly better than the consensus estimates.

Amid rising sales and improving margins, investors have rewarded BSX stock, evident from its valuation multiple rising a solid 56% since early 2023. Now, BSX is one of a handful of stocks that have increased their value in each of the last four years. Still,  that wasn’t enough for it to consistently beat the market. Returns for the stock were 18% in 2021, 9% in 2022, 25% in 2023, and 55% in 2024.

Similarly, the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio, with a collection of 30 stocks, is less volatile, and it has comfortably outperformed the S&P 500 over the last four-year period. Why is that? As a group, HQ Portfolio stocks provided better returns with less risk versus the benchmark index; less of a roller-coaster ride, as evident in HQ Portfolio performance metrics.

Given the current uncertain macroeconomic environment around rate cuts and ongoing trade wars, could BSX continue its strong run? We think BSX stock has little room for growth now. At its current levels of $106, it’s trading at 42x trailing earnings of $2.51 per share, compared to the stock’s average P/E ratio of 31x over the last five years. Although Boston Scientific’s strong revenue and profit growth could justify a higher valuation multiple, the current stock price appears to have priced in the positives. We think that investors may find better entry points by waiting for a pullback in BSX stock.

While BSX stock looks fully valued, it is helpful to see how Boston Scientific’s peers fare on metrics that matter. You will find other valuable comparisons for companies across industries at Peer Comparisons.

[1] Returns as of 2/11/2025
[2] Cumulative total returns since the end of 2016

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