Stifel lowers Alcon stock price target to $90 from $100, keeps Buy rating

Investing.com - Stifel has reduced its price target on Alcon Inc. (NYSE:ALC) to $90.00 from $100.00 while maintaining a Buy rating on the eye care company’s stock. The $40.3 billion healthcare equipment company, currently trading near its 52-week low at $81.04, maintains a strong Buy consensus among analysts with an average rating of 1.67.

The adjustment follows Alcon’s second-quarter 2025 results, which missed top-line expectations with operating margin also underperforming. Management has cut its 2025 constant currency sales growth guidance from 6%-7% down to 4%-5%, following actual revenue growth of 4.04% in the last twelve months. InvestingPro data shows five analysts have recently revised their earnings estimates downward for the upcoming period.

Despite the reduced sales outlook, Alcon maintained its earnings per share guidance, though Stifel notes this was primarily supported by favorable foreign exchange and tax factors rather than operational strength.

Stifel believes the second half of 2025 appears "better de-risked" and management’s positive outlook on the UNITY product remains largely intact, potentially making this earnings report and guidance cut a "clearing event" for investors.

The research firm suggests that while investing in Alcon for its 2026 product cycle might be more comfortable now that near-term risks have diminished, challenges remain as management must navigate a slowing core business, softening markets, and merger integration issues.

In other recent news, Alcon Inc. reported its second-quarter 2025 earnings, revealing earnings per share (EPS) of $0.76, which exceeded analyst expectations of $0.7194. Despite this positive EPS result, the company’s revenue fell short, reaching $2.58 billion compared to the forecasted $2.63 billion. This revenue miss has raised concerns among investors. Additionally, Alcon achieved approximately 3.0% currency-neutral growth, with its Surgical segment growing by 1.0% and its Vision Care segment by 5.0%. Gross margins and operating margins surpassed Street expectations by 30 and 20 basis points, respectively.

In response to these developments, BTIG lowered its price target for Alcon to $92 from $100, while maintaining a Buy rating. Similarly, Bernstein SocGen Group reduced its price target to CHF84.50 from CHF88.00, citing "another miss and another guidance downgrade" as reasons for the adjustment. Both firms continue to hold positive ratings on the stock despite these adjustments.

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