Boston Scientific (BSX) risk factors: FY2025 10-K

Item 1A of the 10-K for the period ending 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-17. 27 risk factor headings as filed. Read Item 1A in full · The whole 10-K · What changed since FY2024

0new since FY2024
9reworded
0removed
18unchanged

Headings mentioning a theme: Tariffs 0 · AI 0 · Cybersecurity 1 · China 0 · Interest rates 0. Compare across the S&P 500.

Economic, Industry and Geopolitical Risks

6
  1. We face intense competition and may not be able to keep pace with the rapid technological changes in the medical devices industry or low-cost competitive offerings, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.reworded
  2. We may experience declines in market size, average selling prices for our products, medical procedure volumes and/or our share of the markets in which we compete, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.reworded
  3. Continued consolidation in the health care industry or additional governmental controls exerted over pricing in and access to key markets could lead to increased demands for price concessions or limit or eliminate our ability to sell certain of our products, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.reworded
  4. Health care cost containment pressures, government payment and delivery system reforms, changes in private payer policies, and marketplace consolidations could decrease the demand for our products, the prices which customers are willing to pay for those products and/or the number of procedures performed using our devices, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
  5. Challenging domestic and international economic conditions could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations.reworded
  6. We are subject to a number of market, business, financial, legal and regulatory risks and uncertainties with respect to our international operations that could adversely impact our business, financial condition or results of operations.reworded

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Credit and Financial Risks

2
  1. If we are unable to manage our debt levels, maintain investment grade credit ratings at the three ratings agencies, or if we experience a disruption in our cash flows, it could have an adverse effect on our cost of borrowing, financial condition or results of operations.
  2. We may record future goodwill impairment charges related to one or more of our global reporting units or other intangible asset impairment charges, which could materially adversely impact our results of operations.

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Business and Operational Risks

19
  1. Failure to integrate acquired businesses into our operations successfully could adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.
  2. We may not be successful in our strategy relating to future strategic acquisitions of, investments in, or alliances with, other companies and businesses.
  3. We may not realize the expected benefits from our restructuring and optimization initiatives, our long-term cost savings programs may result in an increase in short-term expenses and our efforts may lead to unintended consequences.
  4. Our future growth is dependent upon the development of new products and enhancement of existing products, which requires significant research and development, clinical trials and regulatory approvals, all of which may be very expensive and time-consuming and may not result in commercially viable products.
  5. Interruption of our supply chain or manufacturing operations, including resulting from natural disasters, public health crises, geopolitical developments or other events outside of our control, could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.reworded
  6. Disruptions in the supply of the materials and components used in manufacturing our products by third-party vendors or the sterilization of our products could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.reworded
  7. We rely on the proper function, availability and security of information technology systems to operate our business and a cyber-attack or other breach of these systems could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.Cybersecurity
  8. Our business and operations are subject to risks related to natural disasters, climate change and other extreme weather.reworded
  9. Our business could be negatively impacted by corporate social responsibility and sustainability matters.
  10. If we are unable to attract or retain key talent, it could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
  11. Legal and Regulatory Risk Factors
  12. Health care policy changes may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
  13. We are subject to extensive and dynamic medical device regulation, which may impede or hinder the approval or sale of our products and, in some cases, may ultimately result in an inability to obtain approval of certain products or may result in the recall or seizure of previously approved products.
  14. Our products are continually subject to clinical trials and other analyses conducted by us, our competitors or other third parties, the results of which may be unexpected, or perceived as unfavorable by the market, and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
  15. Any failure to meet regulatory quality standards applicable to our manufacturing and quality processes could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
  16. Changes in tax laws, unfavorable resolution of tax contingencies, or exposure to additional income tax liabilities could have a material impact on our financial condition, results of operations and/or liquidity.
  17. We may not effectively be able to protect our intellectual property, systems, software-based products or other sensitive data, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations.
  18. Pending and future intellectual property litigation could be costly and disruptive to us.
  19. Pending and future product liability claims and other litigation, including private securities litigation, stockholder derivative suits, contract litigation, and environmental litigation may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations or liquidity.reworded

Read these in Item 1A · See the changes

Headings are the lines of Item 1A set wholly in bold or italics, as the parser reads them, without the introductory paragraph that opens the section. A heading is new when no heading in the prior 10-K matches it after ignoring case and punctuation, and reworded when it shares at least 60 percent of its words with one that went away. Source: the filing on sec.gov.