STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) Raised to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on STAA. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on shares of STAAR Surgical from $18.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of STAAR Surgical from $22.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on STAAR Surgical from $27.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of STAAR Surgical from $16.00 to $25.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of STAAR Surgical in a report on Friday, May 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.81.

STAAR Surgical Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ STAA opened at $27.79 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -64.63 and a beta of 1.23. STAAR Surgical has a one year low of $15.59 and a one year high of $35.87. The company’s fifty day moving average is $29.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 4.31 and a current ratio of 5.12.

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The medical instruments supplier reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $93.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $78.72 million. STAAR Surgical had a negative net margin of 7.24% and a positive return on equity of 3.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 119.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($1.10) EPS. Analysts forecast that STAAR Surgical will post 0.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On STAAR Surgical

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Amundi acquired a new position in shares of STAAR Surgical in the first quarter valued at approximately $305,000. American Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in STAAR Surgical by 18.7% during the first quarter. American Capital Management Inc. now owns 878,035 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $16,419,000 after acquiring an additional 138,499 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in STAAR Surgical during the first quarter worth approximately $1,109,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its stake in STAAR Surgical by 257.7% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 135,200 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $2,528,000 after acquiring an additional 97,400 shares during the period. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its stake in STAAR Surgical by 33.3% in the 1st quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 20,000 shares of the medical instruments supplier’s stock worth $374,000 after acquiring an additional 5,000 shares during the period. 96.70% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.