Alcon shares fall on Investing.com earnings miss

Shares of Alcon ( SIX: ) fell after the company reported second-quarter results that missed analysts’ expectations for both revenue and EBIT margin.

At 4:22 am (0822 GMT), Alcon was trading 2.9 percent lower at CHF 80.28.

Despite this, Alcon reaffirmed its full-year 2024 guidance, maintaining a positive outlook for the rest of the fiscal year.

However, concerns remain about the company’s ability to meet consensus expectations, particularly in light of weaker-than-expected performance in key segments such as equipment and eye health.

According to analysts at RBC Capital Markets, the pharmaceuticals and medical devices company’s second-quarter revenue was 1.4% below the Visible Alpha consensus, while its EBIT margin was 30 basis points lower than expected. had anticipated.

Despite these misses, the company’s earnings per share (EPS) were 1.4% above expectations.

The company’s growth was largely driven by its Surgical Care and Vision Care segments, both of which grew at a constant exchange rate (CER) of 6%. While the Implantables segment beat expectations, growing 9% CER, driven by advanced technology intraocular lenses (IOLs) in international markets.

However, this was offset by weaker performance in Equipment, which saw a 1% CER decline, and Eye Health, which rose to just 2% CER – nearly 6 percentage points below expectations.

“The rate is not helpful given the strength of stocks this year and we expect investors to take this poorly initially. That said, the strong print from Implantables, the positive update on the dry eye filing and the likelihood of a mechanical increase in margins in S2 should help offset most of this,” analysts at UBS Global Research said in a note.

Alcon’s management reaffirmed its FY2024 guidance, forecasting revenue growth of 7-9%, operating margin between 20.5-21.5% and EPS between $3.00 and $3.10.

“We view the reiteration of FY2024 guidance as positive, although we signal that soft revenue and EBIT margin misses, as well as weaker-than-expected performance in equipment and eye health, gradually increase the risk of meeting consensus expectations for FY2024 ”, the analysts said. .