One-glance verdict
Overvalued
$19.48 our estimate vs market $35.49
82% above our estimate, beyond the bull case
Fundamentals snapshot
Carl Zeiss Meditec AG
CZMWY · PNK · Healthcare · Medical Instruments & Supplies
Current price
$35.49
52-week range
$26.65 - $55.94
Market cap
$3.11B
Balance sheet
Healthy
8.39x Adequate
Net debt $635.04M. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
2 Risks
3 rewards · 2 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 7.8% last year.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 4/10 years.
- Risk Operating margin compressed from 20.9% to 11.1% over 3 years.
- Risk Insider ownership is only 0.0% (peer median: 1.3%).
What this company does
Carl Zeiss Meditec AG
Carl Zeiss Meditec makes high-tech medical devices, focusing on precision tools for eye care and delicate surgeries. The company earns most of its money selling equipment to doctors and hospitals for things like cataract operations, laser vision correction, and brain surgery. This is important because its products are critical for common medical procedures, giving it a steady role in the essential healthcare industry.
How the company got here
Carl Zeiss Meditec's story begins with the broader Carl Zeiss company, a German leader in optics founded in 1846. The company's medical technology division started in 1893 by creating specialized microscopes for eye doctors. A major turning point came in 2002 when this division merged with a medical laser company and was spun off to become the publicly traded Carl Zeiss Meditec AG. This move allowed the company to focus specifically on developing high-tech solutions for eye diseases and complex surgeries. Since then, it has grown by creating innovative products and acquiring other companies to strengthen its position in the medical technology world.
What it actually does
Carl Zeiss Meditec makes advanced equipment that doctors, especially eye specialists and surgeons, use to diagnose and treat patients. Think of the high-tech machines in an eye doctor's office that check your vision and eye health; many of those are made by this company. They also build powerful surgical microscopes and laser systems that allow surgeons to perform incredibly precise operations, such as cataract surgery, brain surgery, or even treating tumors during an operation. Their products help doctors see things that would be impossible to see with the naked eye, improving patient outcomes.
Ophthalmology
This is the company's largest business segment, making up about three-quarters of its sales. It provides a wide range of tools for eye care professionals to diagnose and treat common eye conditions like cataracts, glaucoma, and vision problems. This includes everything from the devices that measure your prescription for glasses to the lasers used for vision correction surgery and the artificial lenses (called intraocular lenses) that are implanted during cataract surgery. Essentially, if a doctor is examining or operating on an eye, they are likely using a Zeiss product.
Microsurgery
This segment, which accounts for the remaining quarter of the company's business, focuses on visualization tools for extremely delicate surgeries. They are a world leader in providing powerful surgical microscopes that surgeons use for brain, spine, and ear, nose, and throat procedures. These microscopes magnify the surgical area, allowing doctors to perform minimally invasive surgery (procedures done through tiny incisions) with great precision. This division also offers solutions for radiation therapy that can be delivered during an operation.
What management is betting on now
The company is heavily focused on creating integrated digital solutions that connect their various devices and software. This strategy, which they call creating a 'workflow', aims to make the entire process for doctors—from diagnosis (identifying the problem) to treatment—more efficient and seamless. They are also investing significantly in research and development (the process of creating new products and improving existing ones) to stay at the forefront of medical technology. A key part of their growth plan involves expanding in global markets, particularly in Asia, and making strategic acquisitions of other companies to gain new technologies and market access.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $19.48 vs current price $35.49
Our most-likely fair value is $19.48 a share — about 45.1% below today's price of $35.49, so the stock currently looks expensive (overvalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Healthy
Net debt $635.0M. Interest coverage 8.4x.
Net debt
$635.04M
Interest coverage
8.39x
Carl Zeiss Meditec AG's profit covers its interest bill about 8.4 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here and 3 peers sit below 1x, which is the danger zone where profit does not fully cover the interest bill.
Healthy
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
CZMWY
BASELINE
Carl Zeiss Meditec AG
Total debt $662.28M Interest coverage 8.39x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $35.94M Interest coverage -10.00x -100% vs CZMWY This peer has almost no interest-payment cushion compared with CZMWY.
Total debt $2.05B Interest coverage 0.21x -98% vs CZMWY Carries about 40.2x less debt cushion than CZMWY.
Total debt $834.25M Interest coverage 3.30x -61% vs CZMWY Carries about 2.5x less debt cushion than CZMWY.
Total debt $1.17B Interest coverage 8.41x +0% vs CZMWY Has roughly the same debt cushion as CZMWY.
Total debt $5.11B Interest coverage 0.45x -95% vs CZMWY Carries about 18.8x less debt cushion than CZMWY.
What you should know
The case for and against CZMWY
3 Rewards
2 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 7.8% last year.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 4/10 years.
-
Trades at 22.6x P/E vs peer median 50.9x (55.6% cheaper).
Risks
-
Operating margin compressed from 20.9% to 11.1% over 3 years.
-
Insider ownership is only 0.0% (peer median: 1.3%).
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
22.61x
Forward P/E
—
P/B
1.30x
P/S
1.42x
EV/EBITDA
16.66x
PEG ratio
1.08x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
51.6%
Operating margin
11.1%
Net margin
5.6%
ROE
—
ROA
—
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
0.28x
Current ratio
—
Quick ratio
—
Total debt
$662.28M
Total cash
$27.24M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$2.49B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
5.4%
EPS TTM
1.57
EPS 5Y CAGR
-21.2%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$239.24M
Free CF TTM
$151.92M
FCF margin
6.1%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
1.8%
Payout ratio
43.6%
Last ex-div date
2026-03-30