U.S. Medtech: Back to school; highlights from a busy week of company updates (SYK, MDT, DXCM, ISRG, JNJ, PODD, BSX)

Bernstein published a U.S. medical devices sector note summarizing updates from more than half of its coverage at a broker conference in Boston last week (SYK and MDT on Tuesday; DXCM, ISRG, JNJ and PODD on Wednesday; BSX on Thursday), with tweaks made to several models. Stryker flagged two incremental Q3 headwinds: greater Peripheral Vascular supply disruption, expected to be a ~70-80bps drag on total company growth, and softer-than-expected joint replacement volumes, as cyberattack-deferred procedures are not returning and patients show greater economic sensitivity. Stryker did not lower FY26 guidance, but we sense consensus 2H26 numbers need to come down, and we cut our FY26 organic growth forecast from 8.7% to 8.1%, just below the low end of guidance. Medtronic reiterated it is at a durable growth inflection point, supported by its three major businesses plus four emerging growth drivers (CAS, Symplicity, AltaViva, Hugo). Dexcom reiterated confidence in year-end CMS Medicare propos