Alcon (SIX/NYSE:ALC) stock is up today after the eye care tech company reported fourth-quarter results that surpassed Wall Street expectations.
Geneva, Switzerland–based Alcon yesterday evening reported profits of $139 million, or 28¢ per share, off $2.149 billion in sales for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2021, for a bottom-line gain of 46% and a top-line gain of 11% compared with Q4 2020.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were 56¢, 4¢ ahead of the Street, where analysts were looking EPS of 52¢ on sales of $2.08 billion.
“We have secured our position as the global leader in eye care, and our 2021 performance demonstrates the resilience of our business, the strength of our innovation engine and the expertise of our commercial organization,” Alcon CEO David Endicott said in a news release. “Our strong product flow resulted in revenue growth above-market, which drove core operating leverage and margin expansion.”
Alcon projects $8.7 billion to 8.9 billion in revenue in 2022, a 7–9% increase over 2021. The company expects core diluted EPS in the $2.35–2.45 range, a 13–18% increase.
Investors reacted by sending ALC shares up nearly 2% to $80.28 apiece by afternoon trading today. MassDevice‘s MedTech 100 Index, which includes stocks of the world’s largest medical device companies, was down about 1.4%.
BTIG analysts Ryan Zimmerman and Phillip Dantoin maintained their buy rating.
“With comps becoming tougher in FY22, there will be a debate on whether ALC can sustain the level of growth already seen, but we think that this has been the key concern for ALC shares for some time, and despite these concerns, ALC continues to perform well in key markets,” they said.