What happened
Shares of STAAR Surgical (STAA -0.77%) rose 23.7% this week, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The stock has fallen more than 27% over the past 12 months.
So what
STAAR makes and sells foldable implantable lenses for the eye, along with their delivery systems, eliminating the need in some cases for contacts or glasses. The foldable lenses allow surgeons to implant them in the eye using a small incision.
Investors were encouraged when new CEO Tom Frinzi purchased shares of the company this week. Frinzi, who took over from the retiring Caren Mason on Dec. 19, bought 87,805 shares of STAAR stock on Monday.
The healthcare company's sales were strong in the third quarter, as the company reported revenue of $76 million, up 30% year over year, with earnings per share of $0.21 compared with $0.12 in the same quarter last year.
The company had boosted sales by marketing in China, but its overseas sales have slowed because of COVID-19 restrictions in that country and a stronger dollar. The California-based company is trying to make greater inroads in the U.S. One way it is doing that is with its newest product, the EVO Visian implantatable collamer lens (ICL), by training 600 eye surgeons to use the product.
Now what
The company's earlier guidance predicted sales in 2023 of $355 million, representing an increase of 25% over this year. But when Frinzi was announced as the new CEO, the company declined to reiterate that guidance.
That has worried investors, along with Mason's somewhat abrupt departure. If the company can't continue its climb in revenue, or if fourth-quarter numbers fall below expectations, STAAR stock could easily come back down a bit.
In the company's announcement about its leadership change, it briefly mentioned it expected fourth-quarter revenue to fall between $64 million and $66 million. While that would still be an improvement over the $59 million in the fourth quarter of 2021, it would represent a drop of nearly 17% sequentially at the midpoint.
