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Investing.com - Mizuho (NYSE:MFG) has reduced its price target on Alcon Inc. (NYSE:ALC) to $110.00 from $120.00 while maintaining an Outperform rating on the stock. The company, currently trading at $81.04 and near its 52-week low, maintains a strong financial health score according to InvestingPro data.
The firm cited a slowdown in the underlying eye-care market growth rate, which has retrenched to low single digits from approximately 4% previously. This slowdown is primarily driven by issues in Alcon’s Surgical segment, specifically related to procedure throughput rather than macroeconomic factors. Despite these challenges, the company maintains solid fundamentals with a healthy current ratio of 2.6 and revenue growth of 4.04% over the last twelve months.
Despite the near-term challenges, Mizuho indicated that Alcon’s return to a long-term 4-6% growth rate in its Surgical business remains achievable, though the timing remains unclear. The firm also noted improving trends in Contact Lens purchasing quarter-over-quarter, with a low single-digit price increase scheduled for September.
Mizuho highlighted several positive catalysts, including a pipeline of 1,000 UNITY VCS systems supporting favorable equipment growth in the second half of the year, and a TRYPTYR CMS submission targeted for the second half of next year, supporting early 2027 coverage.
The firm expressed confidence that Alcon’s proposed $1.5 billion transaction for STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) will close, and maintained that new product launches, pricing tailwinds, and pending mergers and acquisitions position Alcon favorably among Large Cap Medtech companies over the next several years. With a market capitalization of $40.3 billion and strong liquidity position, Alcon remains a prominent player in the Healthcare Equipment & Supplies industry. For deeper insights into Alcon’s valuation and growth prospects, access the comprehensive Pro Research Report available on InvestingPro.
In other recent news, Alcon Inc. reported its second-quarter 2025 earnings, revealing earnings per share of $0.76, which surpassed analyst expectations of $0.7194. However, the company’s revenue fell short, coming in at $2.58 billion against a forecast of $2.63 billion. Following these results, Stifel adjusted its price target for Alcon to $90 from $100, maintaining a Buy rating. Stifel noted that Alcon’s operating margin underperformed and the company reduced its 2025 constant currency sales growth guidance to 4%-5% from 6%-7%. Additionally, Bernstein SocGen Group lowered its price target to CHF84.50 from CHF88.00, citing another guidance downgrade by Alcon. BTIG also reduced its price target to $92 from $100, maintaining a Buy rating, while highlighting that Alcon’s Surgical segment grew by 1.0% and Vision Care by 5.0%. Despite the EPS beat, the revenue miss and subsequent guidance cut have raised questions among investors and analysts.
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