Comparing STAAR Surgical (STAA) & The Competition

STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) is one of 511 public companies in the “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare STAAR Surgical to similar businesses based on the strength of its institutional ownership, profitability, valuation, risk, earnings, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

96.7% of STAAR Surgical shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 40.5% of shares of all “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” companies are owned by institutional investors. 39.9% of STAAR Surgical shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 14.8% of shares of all “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” companies are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Volatility and Risk

STAAR Surgical has a beta of 1.17, meaning that its stock price is 17% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, STAAR Surgical’s competitors have a beta of 2.56, meaning that their average stock price is 156% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for STAAR Surgical and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
STAAR Surgical	3	5	4	1	2.23
STAAR Surgical Competitors	4243	10460	18171	820	2.46

STAAR Surgical currently has a consensus price target of $28.45, suggesting a potential upside of 12.74%. As a group, “Healthcare Equipment & Supplies” companies have a potential upside of 22.70%. Given STAAR Surgical’s competitors stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe STAAR Surgical has less favorable growth aspects than its competitors.

Profitability

This table compares STAAR Surgical and its competitors’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
STAAR Surgical	1.13%	9.05%	6.99%
STAAR Surgical Competitors	-278.38%	-150.31%	-21.96%

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares STAAR Surgical and its competitors top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
STAAR Surgical	$239.44 million	-$80.45 million	360.57
STAAR Surgical Competitors	$1.89 billion	$138.79 million	11.13

STAAR Surgical’s competitors have higher revenue and earnings than STAAR Surgical. STAAR Surgical is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its competitors, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

STAAR Surgical beats its competitors on 7 of the 13 factors compared.

STAAR Surgical Company Profile

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. The company sells its products directly through its sales representatives in the United States, Japan, Germany, Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Singapore, as well as through own representatives and independent distributors in China, Korea, India, France, Benelux, Italy, and internationally. STAAR Surgical Company was incorporated in 1982 and is headquartered in Lake Forest, California.