STAAR Surgical Announces Preliminary Results for Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2023

STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ: STAA), a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of the EVO family of Implantable Collamer Lenses (EVO ICL) for myopia, astigmatism and presbyopia, today announced preliminary results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 29, 2023. Preliminary net sales were approximately $76.5 million for the fourth quarter and approximately $322.5 million for fiscal 2023. Operating margin is expected to be approximately 5% for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2023.

“Fiscal 2023 was a year of positive market share gains, sales growth and continued profitability for STAAR. Our teams finished the year on a strong note with global ICL sales increasing 22% in the fourth quarter including 26% growth in APAC,” said Tom Frinzi, President and CEO of STAAR Surgical. “ICL unit growth also compares particularly favorably to recent industry trends, outpacing refractive industry growth by at least 25 points for the third year in a row.² Global ICL sales increased 18% for fiscal 2023 driven by 21% growth in APAC, 7% growth in EMEA and 10% growth in the Americas.”

Mr. Frinzi continued, “2023 was also a year of transition and fast learning as we launched new market development strategies while continuing to invest in innovation. Global voice of customer surveys, the most recent completed in November, show willingness to recommend and satisfaction with product quality and clinical outcomes continue to exceed 95%. These data bolster our confidence that utilization of our ICL technology will continue to move down the diopter curve opening up a larger portion of the vast addressable market opportunity. We anticipate clinical journals will publish two new peer-reviewed papers in the first half of 2024 that should further enhance surgeon confidence in measurement and lens size selection across the wide range of diagnostic devices and tools surgeons use to measure the eye for our lenses. Additionally, we intend to continue our investment in innovation projects such as intermediate lens sizes and AI driven tools.”

“Our sales outlook for fiscal 2024 balances the recent industry trends and challenging economic environment for consumers against our conviction that ICL will continue to capture refractive market share globally. We therefore expect our net sales for fiscal 2024 will be approximately $335 million to $340 million which contemplates above-industry rates of growth of approximately 10% for ICL sales in both China and the U.S.³ We will continue to be disciplined in our investments on the path to realizing our market opportunity and anticipate our GAAP operating margin and earnings will be at least breakeven for fiscal 2024. We are confident our actions will increasingly resonate with a growing number of surgeons and patients in both large and emerging markets globally,” concluded Mr. Frinzi.