Medical device and diagnostics companies place an instrument once and then sell the consumables, reagents and service that instrument needs for the next decade. The economics are a razor-and-blade model wrapped in regulatory approval and clinician habit, so the MedTech template scores the durability of that installed base rather than the size of any single product launch.
Pricing Power & Consumable Moat
Score 2
· 25% of the moat score
In MedTech, pricing power is rarely about the machine — it is about what the machine consumes. An instrument that runs only proprietary reagents or cartridges creates a recurring, high-margin stream a competitor cannot win without displacing the hardware and retraining the staff around it. Sustained premium gross margins are the clearest evidence that the attach rate is real.
R&D Pipeline & Capital Returns
Score 20
· 20% of the moat score
Research spending is how a device company keeps its installed base current, but spending alone proves nothing. This defense pairs it with the returns actually earned on capital already deployed: high, durable returns say the previous generation of R&D and acquisitions produced something that lasted, which is the only real evidence the next round will too.
FCF Quality & Cash Conversion
Score 44
· 20% of the moat score
MedTech companies grow by acquisition, and the resulting intangible amortisation depresses reported earnings without consuming any cash. Free cash flow is therefore the more honest measure of what the business earns. Cash flow that consistently exceeds net income indicates the charges are bookkeeping rather than economics.
Commercial Execution
Score 3
· 15% of the moat score
Devices are sold into hospitals and labs through committees, tenders and long qualification cycles, which makes the sales organisation expensive and hard to replicate. Commercial execution is whether that expense is scaling: an operating margin above peers, improving as revenue grows, means the same salesforce is carrying more product rather than the company buying growth.
Capital Structure & Resilience
Score 29
· 12% of the moat score
Serial acquirers carry debt, and the question is whether the cash flows underneath it are dependable enough to service it through a downturn. Recurring consumable revenue supports more leverage than one-off equipment sales do — but only up to the point where interest cover and net debt still leave room for the next deal or the next bad year.
Growth Durability
Score 8
· 8% of the moat score
Growth durability separates an expanding installed base from a good product cycle. Steady revenue growth alongside stable asset productivity suggests placements are compounding, each new instrument adding to a consumable stream that persists, rather than a single approval or tender having temporarily lifted the numbers.