Shares of Santa Ana’s Advanced Medical Optics Inc. fell to a new 52-week low early Tuesday before rebounding after the company said it’s recalling products due to a sterility risk and cut its financial outlook for this year and next.
Advanced Medical’s shares fell nearly 9% at the close of trading Tuesday.
The company said it found three lots of its Complete MoisturePlus multipurpose contact lens solution that had bacterial contamination in Japan and recalled 18 lots made in the same Chinese plant and distributed in the U.S.
The company said it withdrew products from the market in Japan and alerted regulators.
Advanced Medical said that the tainted solution could cause an eye infection, though it also said it hasn’t received any reports of such in the U.S.
Earlier in the year, rival Bausch & Lomb Inc. recalled one of its contact lens solutions after it became associated with a severe fungal infection.
Advanced Medical is recalling 2.9 million units of Complete, though only about 183,000 made it into the U.S.
The company is suspending production at its Chinese plant for about 10 to 12 weeks.
The recall caused Advanced Medical to cut its sales outlook for this year by $40 million to $45 million.
Advanced Medical now expects to earn $77 million to $82.9 million on sales of $985 million to $1 billion for this year. That’s down from an earlier profit forecast of $109.8 million to $112.7 million on revenue of $1.01 billion to $1.02 billion.
The company also cut its outlook for 2007.
