SHC | Market Cap: $5.2B (07/13/26)
Industry:
Life Sciences Tools

DESCRIPTION

Sotera Health provides outsourced sterilization services and lab testing services to medical device and pharmaceutical companies. These are non-discretionary, government-mandated steps in the manufacturing and regulatory approval process, making Sotera an essential part of customers' supply chains. The company operates through three segments. Sterigenics, the largest segment at roughly 68% of revenue, provides terminal sterilization — gamma irradiation, ethylene oxide, and electron beam — across 48 facilities in 13 countries. Sterigenics serves over 40 of the top 50 medical device companies, and once a sterilization process is validated with a customer, switching costs are high because re-validation is expensive and time-consuming. Nordion, at roughly 17% of revenue, is the world's leading supplier of Cobalt-60, the radioactive isotope used in gamma sterilization. Cobalt-60 decays at roughly 12% per year, requiring continuous replenishment and providing recurring demand. Nelson Labs, at roughly 19% of revenue, provides microbiological and analytical chemistry testing across 900-plus test types, supporting product development, regulatory submissions, and quality control. Roughly 70% of Sterigenics and Nelson Labs revenues come from shared customers, enabling cross-selling. Sotera's revenue is almost entirely service-based, driven by volume, pricing, and mix. More than 90% of Sterigenics and Nordion revenue is under multi-year contracts with annual pricing escalators, providing strong revenue visibility. The company targets 5-7% annual revenue growth, driven by volume recovery, pricing increases, cross-selling, and capacity expansion including a new X-ray sterilization facility and additional Cobalt-60 supply from new reactor projects.

Read full business overview →