Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat, can I get your advice on whether Steris is a buy or not? Thank you.

Article Excerpt

A: Steris plc, $203.05, symbol STE on New York (Shares outstanding: 99.7 million; Market cap: $20.1 billion; www.steris.com), sells sterilization equipment, surgical tables, and other products and services used in hospitals and laboratories. The company operates in four segments: Healthcare Products (47% of revenues), Applied Sterilization Technologies (21%), Healthcare Specialty Services (19%), and Life Sciences (13%). Although based in the U.K., it generates 73% of its revenue from the U.S. market. On June 2, 2021, Steris completed the acquisition of New Jersey-based Cantel Medical Corp. (symbol CMD on New York). The cash and stock acquisition is valued at $4.6 billion. Cantel is a provider of disposable infection products used in endoscopy procedures (the insertion of a long, thin tube directly into the body to observe an internal organ or tissue in detail).It also distributes towels and bibs used in dental offices as well as surgical masks. The Cantel deal comes after Steris’s October 2020 acquisition of Key Surgical for $810 million. Key Surgical, founded…