Stifel Nicolaus Upgrades STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) to “Buy”

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) was upgraded by Stifel Nicolaus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $31.00 price objective on the medical instruments supplier’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $28.00. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective suggests a potential upside of 48.54% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on STAA. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on STAAR Surgical from $28.00 to $23.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of STAAR Surgical from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Veritas Investment Research set a $31.00 price target on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research report on Tuesday. Wedbush dropped their price objective on shares of STAAR Surgical from $40.00 to $37.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of STAAR Surgical from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $28.45.

STAAR Surgical Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of STAA stock opened at $20.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 298.19 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50 day moving average of $23.17 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.13. STAAR Surgical has a 52 week low of $15.59 and a 52 week high of $35.87.

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 12th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $93.53 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $90.60 million. STAAR Surgical had a return on equity of 9.05% and a net margin of 1.13%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 111.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.34) EPS. Analysts expect that STAAR Surgical will post 0.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

STAAR Surgical announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 24th that allows the company to repurchase $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical instruments supplier to repurchase up to 5.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of STAAR Surgical

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in STAA. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in shares of STAAR Surgical by 58.2% in the fourth quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 1,669 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 614 shares in the last quarter. Ascentis Independent Advisors bought a new stake in shares of STAAR Surgical during the first quarter valued at about $77,000. Angeles Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of STAAR Surgical during the second quarter valued at about $209,000. Arizona State Retirement System acquired a new stake in STAAR Surgical in the second quarter worth about $235,000. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in STAAR Surgical by 2,867.1% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 11,008 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $206,000 after purchasing an additional 10,637 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.70% of the company’s stock.

About STAAR Surgical

STAAR Surgical Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells implantable lenses for the eye, and companion delivery systems to deliver the lenses into the eye. The company provides implantable Collamer lens product family (ICLs) to treat visual disorders, such as myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, and presbyopia. It markets its products to health care providers, including ophthalmic surgeons, vision and surgical centers, hospitals, government facilities, and distributors, as well as products are primarily used by ophthalmologists.