Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc (ZBH) stock analysis
Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc (ZBH) clears 4 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 1 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 3 of 5 Lynch-style checks. At $98.81 it trades 1.6% above this site's neutral DCF value (a margin of safety of -1.6%). Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns +3.1% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does Zimmer Biomet do?
Zimmer Biomet makes joint-replacement implants and other orthopedic products (knees, hips, shoulders), dental implants and surgical robotics used in orthopedic surgery.
Brands and businesses it owns
- Persona
- ROSA
- Biomet
- Paragon 28
What stands out about Zimmer Biomet?
- The share price implies 8.4% yearly growth. At $98.81, ZBH's free cash flow of $5.69 per share would have to grow 8.4% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for about the same growth as the baseline. Change the assumptions.
- Misses 2 of the 8 value filters. It fails Market Cap > $25B ($18.7B) and PEG Ratio < 1.5 (4.24); the other 4 pass and 2 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- The margin of safety is falling. It went from +5% on Oct 7 to -2% on Oct 23 across 5 weekly readings. See the trend.
- Weakest against peers: return on equity. At 6% (peer median 15%) it ranks 31st of 34 among health care stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Short interest is elevated. 5.1% of the float is sold short, 4.4 days to cover, above this site's 5% flag. See the figures.
How has Zimmer Biomet's share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Zimmer Biomet undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) -1.6%
- P/E vs. its own history 23.2x · at/below its cheapest point Real range: 23.8x–116.1x over 5 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Hold · 3.44/5 32 analysts this month: 3 strong buy, 8 buy, 21 hold, 0 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub). Up from 3.42 last month.
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) 3.96 · Safe zone
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · all 5 checks clean Beneish M-score −2.57 · accruals −4.5% of assets · 181% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 1.1% of revenue · share count −2.7% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Dec 2025) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +3.1% net Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 1.0% + buybacks 2.6% − stock comp 0.5%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count rose 5%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) None needed · capital fell while profit grew · but only 7% return on capital Operating profit $551M → $1.2B, capital needed $23B → $19B, 2016–2025 (3-year averages); return on capital now 7% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 4.24 · Well above fair P/E 23.2× ÷ 5.5% a year of growth behind it. 401st lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 2 of 4 · misses capital-light, price Capital-light growth: not cleared (only 7% return on capital); Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: cleared; Fair price (PEG): not cleared (PEG 4.24, over 1.5). See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Value trap check Clear
- Munger's Inversion Check 1 flag
- Standing vs. sector peers 5 of 7 measures above the median Compared with the 33 other health care stocks this site tracks: 1 in the top third, 1 in the bottom third.
- Dividend payout sustainability 0/6 · clean
How does Zimmer Biomet compare with its peers?
5 of 7 measures sit above the median of the 33 other health care stocks tracked here, 1 in the top third and 1 in the bottom third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 24.6× 23.2× –12th of 32
- Free-cash-flow yieldhigher is cheaper · peer median 5.5% 5.8% –16th of 34
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 15% 6% ✕31st of 34
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 9.3% 9.5% –16th of 34
- Revenue growthhigher is better, year on year · peer median 8.6% 8.6% –17th of 34
- Debt / equitylower is safer · peer median 0.69 0.59 ✓11th of 34
- Dividend yieldamong dividend payers · peer median 1.10% 1.01% –12th of 21
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and ZBH doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: ZBH trades at a reasonable multiple of owner earnings, his own term for the real cash a business could pay out. Where it comes up short: ZBH isn't clearing the return-on-equity bar he'd want to see right now, and its five-year average return on equity falls short too, so this isn't just a one-off dip, carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates, runs thinner pretax margins than he'd like to see, hasn't grown earnings per share fast enough over five years to impress him, doesn't cover its interest expense as comfortably as he'd want, and is trading above what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth right now.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✕
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- Pretax margin > 15% ✕
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✕
- Interest coverage > 5x ✕
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✕
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✓
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2025
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and ZBH falls short of his bar. In its favor: ZBH is growing at the modest, GDP-ish pace typical of a slow grower, isn't over-leveraged for a company of its type, and converts earnings into real cash at a reasonable price. Where it comes up short: ZBH doesn't pay much of a dividend, which is the main reason to own a slow grower in the first place, and is priced too rich for how little growth is actually left in the business.
- Dividend yield > 2.5% ✕
- EPS growth 0%-10% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.6 ✓
- P/E < 20 ✕
- Price/FCF < 25 ✓
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does Zimmer Biomet pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $18.7B
- Trailing P/E < 25 23.22
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 4.24
- Price/Book < 8 1.48
- Price/Sales < 7 2.20
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% +33.5%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is Zimmer Biomet's margin of safety?
+5% on 2026-10-07 → -2% on 2026-10-23 (5 weekly readings).
Where is Zimmer Biomet in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Zimmer Biomet?
9,745,945 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with Zimmer Biomet? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case +40%
- Short interest under 5% of float 5.1%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 4/6 passed
- Price run-up backed by value, not just momentum +24% off 52wk low
- Debt/equity stable since 2016 1.16 → 0.59
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Zimmer Biomet shareholders gained per year?
Not enough clean earnings history to compute this for ZBH yet - a loss year in the window breaks the growth math rather than faking a number through it.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from ZBH's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do Zimmer Biomet's 10-year financials show?
From ZBH's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about Zimmer Biomet
What kind of company is Zimmer Biomet?
Zimmer Biomet makes joint-replacement implants and other orthopedic products (knees, hips, shoulders), dental implants and surgical robotics used in orthopedic surgery. Brands and businesses it owns include Persona, ROSA, Biomet and Paragon 28. This site groups it with Health Care stocks.
Is Zimmer Biomet trading above or below its DCF value?
At $98.81, ZBH trades 1.6% above this site's neutral DCF value of $97.24 per share, a margin of safety of −1.6%. That DCF projects free cash flow for 10 years, with growth starting at 8% and fading to 2.5%, discounted at 10%; it is one set of assumptions, not a forecast. Test your own in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does Zimmer Biomet pass?
ZBH passes 4 of 8. It passes Trailing P/E < 25 (23.22), Price/Book < 8 (1.48), Price/Sales < 7 (2.20) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (+33.5%). It misses Market Cap > $25B ($18.7B) and PEG Ratio < 1.5 (4.24). vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
Is Zimmer Biomet's P/E ratio high or low compared with its own history?
ZBH trades at 23.2× trailing earnings. At the end of each of its last 5 fiscal years its P/E was between 23.8× and 116.1× (average 50.9×), so today's multiple is at or below the lowest of those years. Each year's P/E pairs net income per diluted share from the 10-K with the closing price at that fiscal year-end.
When does Zimmer Biomet report earnings next?
Zimmer Biomet's next earnings report is expected on November 4, 2026 before the market opens, with analysts expecting earnings of $1.90 per share. Dates come from the Finnhub earnings calendar and can move. In its last 4 quarters it beat the estimate 4 times, by an average of +3.4%.
How heavily is Zimmer Biomet stock sold short?
As of September 30, 2026, 5.1% of ZBH's float was sold short (9,745,945 shares, 4.4 days to cover), up 13.6% from the prior reporting period. FINRA publishes short interest twice a month, so it changes about every two weeks; this site flags anything above 5% of the float.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Zimmer Biomet's 10-K annual report for the year ended Dec 31, 2025, filed Feb 20, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Zimmer Biomet Holdings, Inc (ZBH) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.