STAAR Surgical (STAA -0.81%) stood out as one of the top performers in the healthcare sector on Monday. The stock was up 10.1% as of 3:48 p.m. ET after the company announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the EVO/EVO+ Visian Implantable Collamer Lens for correcting myopia and myopia with astigmatism. Is STAAR Surgical a good stock to buy now after today's gain?
The future for STAAR certainly seems brighter with the FDA decision. EVO is already on the market in several other countries. STAAR CEO Caren Mason noted in the press release announcing the FDA approval, "Over one million EVO lenses have already been implanted by doctors outside the U.S. and 99.4% of EVO patients in a survey have stated they would have the procedure again."
Ex-U.S. sales for EVO have more than doubled since 2018 and jumped 51% year over year in 2021. STAAR now has a big U.S. market to target. The company estimates that 100 million adults between the ages of 21 and 45 are potential candidates for EVO.
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But lofty expectations are already baked into the price of the healthcare stock. STAAR Surgical's shares trade at nearly 87 times expected earnings. And that valuation is with the stock still more than 50% below its all-time high from last year.
STAAR expects to deliver 28% year-over-year revenue growth in 2022. Its earnings will need to grow at a much brisker pace to justify the stock's current valuation. I think the stock is definitely one to watch. However, I'd prefer to see how well the early innings of the EVO launch in the U.S. go before calling the stock as a buy.
