Mar. 3 at 9:16 PM
$STAA Staar Surgical reports Q4 EPS 0c, consensus 17c
Reports Q4 revenue
$57.8M, consensus
$75.1M. "Throughout fiscal 2025, we made meaningful progress on multiple fronts, including rebalancing distributor inventory and disciplined gross profit and expense management. The actions we have taken give us confidence in a clear path toward sustained profitability and growth, and we are optimistic about the business in 2026," said Warren Foust, Interim Co-CEO of STAAR Surgical. "During 2024, China demand was challenged, which led to a double-digit decline in in-market sales2 and increased inventory in the channel. In 2025, in-market demand in China improved with an estimated mid-single-digit recovery, and inventories were reduced to normal levels. In-market demand in China accelerated in the fourth quarter, providing a positive signal for fiscal 2026.
However, the in-market recovery did not translate into sales growth for STAAR during the fourth quarter because of a reduction in sub-distributor and customer inventory in China. Due to uncertainties about their future if the Company were acquired by Alcon, certain China sub-distributors and customers returned some inventory to our distributors, resulting in lower-than-anticipated fourth quarter net sales for STAAR. This uncertainty also impacted sales to distributors in other parts of the world. In 2026, with the merger question behind us, we believe we will see modest growth in in-market volume demand and expect net sales in China to increase due to rising average selling prices (ASPs) for lenses and market share gains. ASP increases are being driven by the success of our EVO+ ICL launch in China. The EVO+ ICL for China, which is manufactured in Switzerland, is not subject to US-China tariff volatility. There is excitement around the launch of EVO+ in China, and we are working closely with our distributor partners to accelerate adoption in this key market. We believe our China business is well positioned for growth this year and intend to provide investors with greater transparency into our execution there. We made substantial progress in improving our ability to track channel inventory in China during 2025 and are continuing that effort in 2026."
