Alcon Inc (ALC) is overvalued and Becton Dickinson & Co (BDX) is fairly valued.
Against our estimates of intrinsic value, BDX trades at the wider discount: a margin of safety of +4%, against -131% for ALC.
Values as of the 22 Sept 2026 close.
Discounting its cash flows at 8.9% (average of 3 methods) values the shares at $28.43; the price of $65.59 is 131% above that value, and 76% of that value comes from beyond year five.
Leak Score 14/100 on 3 of 12 signals
Discounting its cash flows at 7.0% (average of 3 methods) values the shares at $190.08; the price of $183.00 is 4% below that value, and 83% of that value comes from beyond year five.
Leak Score 34/100 on 9 of 12 signals
| Metric | ALC | BDX |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Overvalued | Fairly valued |
| Price | $65.59 | $183.00 |
| Intrinsic value | $28.43 | $190.08 |
| Margin of safety | -131% | +4% |
| Leak Score | 14/100 (3/12) | 34/100 (9/12) |
| Market cap | $31.6B | $49.8B |
| Revenue growth, 5 years | 8.8% | 6.3% |
| Operating margin | 10.9% | 14.5% |
| Net margin | 5.9% | 4.5% |
| Return on equity | 2.9% | 5.2% |
| Debt to equity | 0.25 | 0.69 |
| P/E | 50.3x | 55.2x |
| Forward P/E | 16.6x | 13.8x |
| P/B | 1.5x | 2.0x |
| Dividend yield | 0.6% | 2.2% |