The market for hip and knee implants is stable but mired in a low-growth stage, according to analysts who attended the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons conference in San Francisco last week.

Although the abrupt departure of Stryker CEO Steve MacMillan drew the lion’s share of attention at the AAOS event, analysts from Barclays Capital and Leerink Swann agreed that the sector’s outlook calls for low-single-digit growth.