LPLA vs STE Comparison

LPL Financial is the largest US independent broker-dealer, with nearly 29,000 financial advisors affiliated with its platform and roughly 10 million associated customer accounts at the end of 2024. The firm earns the bulk of its profit from interest income earned on client cash balances and from advisory fees and commissions tied to the $1.7 trillion in assets under management or advisory on its platform at year-end 2024. LPL specializes in the provision of turnkey wealth management services for affiliated independent advisors, but maintains a diverse array of affiliation modalities, running the gamut from more traditional employee models to a pure RIA custody approach. It earns tuck-in revenue from recordkeeping fees and the provision of software tools and services to its advisor base.

Steris is an Ireland-domiciled medical technology company focused on sterilization services and infection prevention. The company is the global leader in contract sterilization services, ensuring the safe delivery of single-use and implantable medical equipment to hospitals around the world. Steris also sells sterilizers, washer-disinfectors, and other decontamination equipment and supplies for use by care provider facilities and in biopharma manufacturing sites. Domiciled in the United States before its inversion to Ireland, the firm derives approximately 70% of its revenue from Healthcare Services, 19% from Applied Sterilization Technologies, or AST, and 11% from life sciences services after the divestment of its dental products business.