Staar Surgical Co.’s first-quarter earnings appear to show the company is rebounding, thus validating investors who in January rejected a takeover bid by Alcon.
Staar on May 13 reported revenue more than doubled to $93.5 million, coming in well above Wall Street’s $77.4 million forecast. Shares rose 8.8% in the subsequent trading session and have now doubled since February.
“I’m really happy to talk about Q1 of 2026 as we have now largely moved past many of the challenges that we faced in 2025—significant disruption stemming from the potential Alcon merger process, elevated channel inventory in our largest market and risks of rising tariffs to name a few,” interim co-Chief Executive Warren Foust said on the company’s May 13 earnings call.
“Those issues are behind us now.”
The Lake Forest-based maker of implantable lenses reported a 24% drop in sales to $239 million last year due to excess inventory in China, its largest market. The company’s shares, which once traded above $150 each in 2021, sank last year to as low as $17 each.
Last year, the company tried to sell itself to Alcon, which initially offered $28 per share and later raised its offer to $30.75 per share.
An investor since the 1990s, Broadwood Partners L.P., which holds an approximate 31% stake in the company, led a shareholder revolt that rejected the offer by 63% to 37% margin. After the vote, Chairwoman Elizabeth Yeu resigned, as did CEO Stephen Farrell, who had held the role for less than a year.
In February, Staar appointed Chief Operating Officer Foust and Chief Financial Officer Deborah Andrews as interim co-CEOs as the company seeks a permanent replacement.
That month, the shares fell to a seven-year low of $15.59. At press time, the shares traded at $31.39 with a $1.6 billion market cap (Nasdaq: STAA).
Analysts Raise Price Targets on STAA
Officials pointed to a normalization of excess channel inventory in China as one of the drivers of the record first-quarter net sales. Staar this year also launched its EVO+ Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL) in China and said it saw “strong early demand” for the lens, which features a larger optic zone for patients with larger pupils.
Staar has been facing weaker demand in China since the first quarter of 2025, when sales fell 45% as its two distributors depleted their existing inventories. Then-CEO Tom Frinzi departed in February 2025 and was replaced by Farrell.
Since then, sales have returned to growth in the region with distributor inventory at or below contractual levels, according to the company.
“Operationally, we have made substantial inroads addressing our most significant challenge from 2025—excess channel inventory,” Foust and Andrews said in a letter to shareholders.
Officials added that refractive market conditions in China improved in the first quarter from the volatility experienced between 2022 to 2024.
Staar is currently scaling its manufacturing facility in Nidau, Switzerland, and said it’s on track for the facility to supply all lenses shipped to China without import tariffs.
Wedbush upgraded Staar from Neutral to Outperform, raising its price target to $40 from $26.
The analyst firm raised its estimates because it believes that “Staar is either at or near an inflection point for a full China recovery.”
“While we acknowledge that we may be early with our upgrade, we are taking a longer-term view to the STAA story and would rather be early than late as we believe that the company has the potential to exceed even our bull case scenario in the coming quarters,” Wedbush analyst Michael Piccolo wrote in a May 14 report.
Staar’s first-quarter results also prompted Jefferies to raise its price target on the company from $24 to $29, while reiterating a Hold rating.
“Despite continued macroeconomic cautiousness, fundamental demand drivers such as the upcoming high season for college graduates and deep-rooted partnerships with Aier, suggest a robust trajectory in Q2,” Jefferies analyst Young Li wrote in a note to investors.
FDA Expands U.S. Age Indication for EVO ICL
Within the U.S., net sales grew 22% to $6.67 million for the first quarter.
“The U.S. remains underpenetrated relative to more mature ICL markets, which is why we continue to view it as an important long term growth opportunity,” Foust said.
Staar is better positioned to grow its U.S. business after receiving FDA approval in February to expand the age indication for EVO ICL. Previously cleared for U.S. patients between 21 to 45 years old, the approval extends use up to age 60, increasing Staar’s addressable market to an additional 8 million people.
U.S. sales have grown about 54% over the past three years through 2025, according to Staar.
Officials said the growth is taking place against a decline of laser-based procedures, which requires the removal of corneal tissue.
Outside China and the U.S., certain regions including the Middle East and India experienced trade disruption during the first quarter. Officials said that the affected regions make up a “relatively small” portion of the business, impacting net sales by less than $2 million.
The company maintained that it will not provide full year revenue guidance until the end of the second quarter due to macroeconomic uncertainty.
“We’re optimistic about the future,” Andrews said. “The results of Q3 remain to be seen yet, so we’re kind of cautious about our giving guidance, at least in the short term, and we’ll revisit it later on in the year.”
