STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other brokerages have also commented on STAA. William Blair set a $33.00 target price on shares of STAAR Surgical in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of STAAR Surgical from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Thursday, August 13th. UBS Group set a $28.00 price target on shares of STAAR Surgical in a report on Monday, August 17th. Zacks Research cut shares of STAAR Surgical from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded shares of STAAR Surgical from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $31.00 in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and three have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, STAAR Surgical currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.45.

STAAR Surgical Price Performance

STAA opened at $22.01 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 314.47 and a beta of 1.17. STAAR Surgical has a 12 month low of $15.59 and a 12 month high of $35.87.

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

STAAR Surgical announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Thursday, September 24th that allows the company to buy back $50.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the medical instruments supplier to purchase up to 5.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Share repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Two Seas Capital LP lifted its position in shares of STAAR Surgical by 22.6% in the third quarter. Two Seas Capital LP now owns 1,304,957 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $29,505,000 after acquiring an additional 240,568 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in STAAR Surgical during the 2nd quarter worth about $952,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in STAAR Surgical during the 2nd quarter worth about $618,000. Arizona State Retirement System purchased a new stake in STAAR Surgical during the 2nd quarter worth about $235,000. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LP raised its stake in STAAR Surgical by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 48,968 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. 96.70% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

STAAR Surgical Company Profile

STAAR Surgical is a medical device company focused on ophthalmic surgery and vision correction. The company develops, manufactures and markets implantable lenses and related products designed to reduce or eliminate dependence on glasses or contact lenses.

Its principal product line is the EVO Visian Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL), a lens implanted inside the eye to correct myopia, with or without astigmatism. Unlike procedures that remove corneal tissue, ICL surgery preserves the eye’s natural lens and is designed to be removable.