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Will Robust ICL Sales Aid STAAR Surgical (STAA) Q3 Earnings?

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STAAR Surgical Company (STAA - Free Report) is scheduled to report third-quarter 2018 results on Oct 31 after market close.

Last reported quarter, the company’s earnings per share topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a stupendous 800%. Moreover, the company delivered positive surprises in three of the trailing four quarters, the average beat being 341.7%.

Let’s see, how things are shaping up prior to this announcement.

Factors at Play

STAAR Surgical is once again expected to make a strong top-line contribution with its Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL), which includes the EVO Visian ICL product line. In the second quarter, this registered extremely remarkable growth in the international market.

Japan was right on top in terms of unit growth rate (up 131%) followed with China, which was up 127%, Canada, up 64% and India, up 61% with solid 30%-unit growth in Germany and 20% growth from the company’s European distributors.

STAAR Surgical expects to see this high level of momentum to be continued in the key international markets through the second half of 2018. It believes, ICL’s total second half sales growth will exceed 20% from the year-ago numbers.

However, the United States, the second largest refractive surgery market in the world, has historically remained an underperforming key market for ICL despite huge potential. We expect this bleak scenario to persist through the third quarter as well to the point the company finally launches its Toric Visian ICL.

Here’s What Our Quantitative Model Predicts

Per the proven Zacks model, a company with a favorable Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) has good chances of beating estimates if it also has a positive Earnings ESP. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they’re reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

STAAR Surgical has a Zacks Rank #2, which increases the predictive power of ESP. However, the company has an Earnings ESP of 0.00%, which makes surprise prediction difficult. The combination fails to forecast an earnings beat for the company.

Stocks Worth a Look

Here are a few medical stocks worth considering as these have the right combination of elements to beat on earnings in the upcoming quarterly results.

Baxter International Inc. (BAX - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.90% and a Zacks Rank of 2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Masimo Corp. (MASI - Free Report) has an Earnings ESP of +0.98% and is a Zacks #2 Ranked player.

Luminex Corp. has an Earnings ESP of +54.76% and a Zacks Rank #3.

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