Activist investor Jana Partners continues to push for changes at the Cooper Companies (NASDAQ: COO).
The firm reiterated its calls for the medtech to sell off its various divisions in a letter to the board of directors late last week, and now it’s lobbying for the replacement of its CEO.
Cooper Companies representatives couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.
The Cooper Companies recently lowered its financial guidance for 2026, alongside its earnings release earlier this month, by dropping its annual growth forecast from about 4% down to between 2% and 3%. It now predicts revenues will land within $4.23 billion to $4.25 billion, below its previous range of $4.28 billion to $4.32 billion.
In its published letter, Jana Partners said the report “further cemented Cooper’s reputation for problematic forecasting, serial negative surprises, expectation mismanagement and poor capital allocation.”
Jana Partners previously announced its stake in the company late last year, alongside its pitch that the company trade its CooperVision contact lens business over to Bausch + Lomb, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. However, at the time the firm said either side of Cooper’s business could fetch a deal.
Alongside its earnings report, the company announced it had completed a months-long review of the potential sale of CooperSurgical, with the board unanimously voting to hold onto the business.
On the company’s third-quarter earnings call with investors, President and CEO Albert White said the offers it received for CooperSurgical didn’t match up with the division’s value.
“The Board and our advisors believe several temporary factors influenced valuations late in the process, including developments related to a competitive entrant in the non-hormonal IUD market and the impact of our fertility litigation settlement,” White said.
In the meantime, the company also said it would expand its stock buyback program, from a total of $2 billion to $3 billion, following the repurchasing of $445 million in shares so far this fiscal year.
For the third quarter, CooperSurgical posted $349.2 million in sales to grow 2% from the same period last year, while CooperVision brought in a largely flat $717.0 million.
Jana Partners said the lack of growth in the vision category is troublesome following the approximate $750 million in capital the company invested between 2023 and 2024. It called for an external search for a new chief executive, as well as a new board chair and the appointment of new directors.
Those years saw Cooper agree to a $300 million acquisition of certain reproductive health and otolaryngology device lines from Cook Medical, after the company abandoned a $875 million deal for Cook’s broader fertility, obstetrics and gynecology business.
Jana Partners has not been Cooper’s the only source of activist pressure. Last November, Browning West delivered its own letter to the board, urging it to reshape the company as a pure-play vision care provider.
