Staar Surgical Returns to Profit as China Demand Rebounds
Staar Surgical posted net sales of $93.5 million in the first quarter, up 119.6% from a year earlier, as China orders recovered without the inventory buildup that had clouded the prior quarter.
Staar Surgical (STAA) swung back to profitability in the first quarter, reporting net income of $5.2 million, or $0.10 a share, reversing a net loss of $(54.2) million a year earlier. The maker of implantable Collamer lenses used to correct vision also named Warren Foust permanent president and chief executive effective August 4, ending a six-month interim co-CEO arrangement he had shared with Deborah Andrews since February 1; Andrews moves to executive vice president and remains chief financial officer.
The quarter marked a sharp break from the trajectory the company had been on. Net sales of $93.5 million rose 119.6% year over year, accelerating from 18.1% growth in the fourth quarter of 2024 and a 23.7% decline for full-year 2024. Adjusted EBITDA of $24.4 million swung positive from a loss of $(26.3) million a year earlier and improved from breakeven in the fourth quarter. Gross margin expanded to 73.6% from 65.8% a year ago, though it remained below the 75.7% posted in the fourth quarter.
China drove nearly all of the increase. Net sales excluding China grew just 6.0% year over year, implying the region accounted for the bulk of the 119.6% total gain, and the rebound came without the inventory buildup at sub-distributors that had masked underlying demand in the fourth quarter. That quarter, sub-distributors had destocked ahead of uncertainty tied to Alcon's proposed acquisition of Staar, muting reported sales even as in-market demand recovered. The Alcon overhang is absent from every release since, and results came "with the merger question behind us".
Staar had flagged the scale of the rebound in advance. A preliminary update on April 8 guided to first-quarter net sales "in excess of $90 million," compared with $42.6 million a year earlier; the final reported figure of $93.5 million came in above that floor.
Product mix reinforced the recovery. The EVO+ ICL launch in China, a margin driver, delivered what the company called "favorable ASP tailwinds from an improving product mix". Cumulative ICLs sold passed 4 million units across more than 85 countries, up from more than 3 million in over 75 countries as of the fourth-quarter release.
Staar also disclosed a supply-chain shift tied to the China business: its Nidau, Switzerland manufacturing facility is being scaled up to supply 100% of EVO and EVO+ lenses shipped to China in 2026, avoiding import tariffs on that volume. This disclosure was new to the first-quarter release and had not appeared in the preliminary update or the prior quarter's results.
The leadership change lands as the company works to sustain the rebound. Foust's move from interim to permanent CEO closes a search that began when the co-CEO structure with Andrews took effect in February, and puts the company's day-to-day execution under a single executive as it works through the China recovery and the Nidau ramp.