Stryker Corporation (the Company) issued a press release on October 20, 2009 announcing its third quarter 2009 operating results. A copy of this press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1.

In its press release, the Company made references to the following financial measures: "constant currency," "adjusted net earnings" and "adjusted diluted net earnings per share." These financial measures are an alternative representation of the Company's past and potential future operational performance and do not replace the presentation of the Company's reported financial results under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
The Company has provided these supplemental non-GAAP financial measures because they provide meaningful information regarding the Company's results on a consistent and comparable basis for the periods presented. Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures for reviewing the operating results of its business segments, for analyzing potential future business trends in connection with its budget process and bases certain annual bonus plans on these non-GAAP financial measures. In order to measure the Company's sales performance on a constant currency basis, it is necessary to remove the impact of changes in foreign currency exchange rates which affects the comparability and trend of sales. Constant currency results are calculated by translating current year results at prior year average foreign currency exchange rates. In order to measure the Company's earnings performance on a consistent and comparable basis, the Company excludes the restructuring charges recorded in 2009 and 2008, each of which affects the comparability of operating results and the trend of earnings. In addition, the Company believes investors will utilize this information to evaluate period-to-period results on a comparable basis and to better understand potential future operating results. The Company encourages investors and other users of these financial statements to review its consolidated financial statements and other publicly filed reports in their entirety and not to rely solely on any single financial measure. The reconciliation of reported diluted net earnings per share to adjusted diluted net earnings per share for the year ended December 31, 2008 is as follows:

Reported diluted net earnings per share                   $2.78
Restructuring charges                                     $0.05
Adjusted diluted net earnings per share                   $2.83

The weighted-average diluted shares outstanding used in the calculation of this non-GAAP financial measure are the same as the weighted-average diluted shares outstanding used in the calculation of the reported per share amounts.

(d) Exhibits

99.1 Press release dated October 20, 2009