8 companies to watch

For Alcon, the ophthalmic corrections giant, visibility has become blurry of late. Amid an uncertain environment, the company has adopted a cautious stance on its outlook. Last August, Alcon once again lowered its forecasts for 2025, now anticipating revenue of between $10.3 billion and $10.4 billion, down from a previous range of $10.4 billion to $10.5 billion. This caution has not been well received by the markets: over the past year, the share price has lost more than 25% of its value. This is not a cause for concern for Christoph Wirtz, head of equities at Rothschild & Co: “The eye health market is growing and Alcon is well positioned to benefit from this.”

The Swiss-American company has two divisions: surgical business, which accounts for 56% of its revenue in 2024, and vision care, which includes contact lenses and many other products such as eye drops. According to the company, the surgery market is estimated at $13 billion and is expected to grow by 6% per year between 2024 and 2029. The vision care sector, meanwhile, is currently worth $22 billion and is expected to grow by an average of 4% per year between 2024 and 2029.

To maintain its advantage, the company is constantly innovating and making acquisitions to stay at the forefront. In September, Alcon completed the acquisition of US medtech company LumiThera, which has developed a light therapy to treat patients with dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). At the same time, the Swiss company is currently pursuing the acquisition of Staar Surgical Company, the manufacturer of Collamer implantable lenses, despite opposition from its main shareholder, Broadwood Partners. Last but not least, in May, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Tryptyr, an ophthalmic solution for the treatment of dry eye syndrome. This is a potentially huge market, as 1.6 billion people worldwide suffer from this syndrome, for which there are few effective treatments. Most analysts recommend buying the stock, which they believe should rebound in 2026.

What brand adorns your glasses? Ray-Ban, Oakley, Giorgio Armani or Chanel? Whichever you opt for, there is a good chance that your frames come from the factories of the French-Italian company EssilorLuxottica. With a portfolio of more than 150 brands, the firm is the undisputed world leader in the eyewear and ophthalmic lens sector, ahead of companies such as Japan’s Hoya and Germany’s Zeiss. It is a structurally growing market, as the ageing population is driving increased demand for corrective eyewear.

But far from limiting itself to this sector, EssilorLuxottica is attempting to create new markets through relentless innovation. In partnership with Meta, the company launched connected glasses, Ray-Ban Meta, in 2023 – an unexpected success. At the same time, the group developed Nuance Audio Glasses, glasses that correct vision while also serving as a hearing aid, which in February 2025 obtained marketing authorisation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as CE marking in Europe. With this product, Essilor aims to revolutionise the hearing aid market for mild to moderate hearing loss, which affects 1.5 billion people globally, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). These innovations have appealed to investors: over the past year, EssilorLuxottica’s share price has risen by more than 30% and a majority of analysts maintain buy recommendations.

Pierre-Alexis François, portfolio manager at Thematics Asset Management, strikes a more cautious note: “With Ray-Ban Meta, Essilor gains an attractive technological angle for investors betting on the sales prospects of connected glasses. As for Nuance glasses, Essilor is now competing with pure players in the hearing aid market, such as Sonova, whose products are often more sophisticated in terms of hearing but not as complementary.” In order to improve its technology, Essilor acquired Pulse Audition in January 2025, a French start-up that develops artificial intelligence solutions for people with hearing impairments.

For François, Essilor’s greatest potential lies in its core business: “The market for traditional glasses continues to grow. And Essilor is the most innovative player in this segment.” Launched in 2020, Stellest lenses, which slow the progression of myopia in children, have been a great success. In September 2025, they became the first lenses of their kind to obtain marketing authorisation from the FDA.

Like Alcon, its competitor in the contact lens market, CooperCompanies is experiencing difficult times on the markets. Over the past year, the stock has lost almost 35% of its value. And this may not be over yet: on 1 October, Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of The CooperCompanies by immediately issuing a sell recommendation, due to concerns over declining annual sales estimates.

The American company has two divisions: CooperSurgical, which focuses on women’s health and accounts for one-third of its 2024 revenue, and CooperVision, a contact lens manufacturer that accounts for two-thirds of its sales. In this highly competitive market, CooperCompanies’ main competitors are Alcon and the dedicated division of Johnson & Johnson. For 2025, CooperCompanies expects revenues of close to $4.1 billion, up 4.5% compared to 2024, driven almost equally by both divisions (4%–5% growth expected for CooperVision and 3%–3.5% for CooperSurgical). This outlook is enough to attract analysts. With the exception of Goldman Sachs, the majority of those who follow the stock recommend buying.

In 2025, good news keeps coming for Zug-based biotech Oculis. In January, the company presented positive clinical results for OCS-05 (Privosegtor) for the treatment of acute optic neuritis. The news shook the scientific community, as this product could have a neuroprotective effect, the Holy Grail of neurology, paving the way for treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

Capitalising on this announcement, the company raised $100 million – one of the largest fundraisers for a Swiss startup this year – in an oversubscribed capital increase in February. And in early October, following a positive meeting with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Oculis announced the advancement of OCS-05 in a registration programme for neuro-ophthalmological indications. In addition to OCS-05, Oculis’ pipeline includes two other drug candidates in development: OCS-01, for the treatment of diabetic macular oedema and inflammation after cataract surgery, and OCS-02, for dry eye disease. All analysts covering the stock recommend buying.

Like Swiss gem Oculis, Ocular Therapeutix is one of a number of biotech companies seeking to revolutionise the treatment of retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (wet and dry AMD) and diabetic retinopathy. According to the company’s figures, around 410 million people worldwide suffer from retinal disease. But for now, the treatment of these patients is not without its flaws: 90% of people suffering from wet AMD require eye injections every one to three months. This procedure entails frequent appointments with an ophthalmologist, which leads many patients to abandon treatment.

To solve this problem, Ocular has developed Axpaxli, a hydrogel currently in Phase III clinical trials (the final test before possible commercialisation) that should reduce the frequency of intraocular injections to once every six months. The molecule is also undergoing Phase I trials for diabetic retinopathy. Separately, Ocular is developing Paxtrava, currently in Phase II trials for glaucoma and ocular hypertension. Most analysts are convinced of Ocular’s potential and recommend buying the stock, which could surge if trials prove positive and the FDA grants marketing authorisation.

While Meta chose to collaborate with industry titan EssilorLuxottica on connected glasses, Google is teaming up with a sector newcomer. In May 2025, the Mountain View company announced a $150 million investment to partner with New Yorkbased Warby Parker to develop glasses powered by artificial intelligence. Little known on our side of the Atlantic, the company, founded in 2010, is experiencing rapid growth. In 2024, Warby Parker recorded revenues of $771.3 million, up 15.2% year-on-year, with a gross margin exceeding 50%.

And the company intends to stay on course: for 2025, it expects sales of between $880 million and $888 million, an increase of 14% to 15%. To ensure this growth, Warby Parker is focusing on both online sales and the expansion of its network of stores in Canada and the United States, where it has recently surpassed 300 stores. It sells its own eyewear, as well as contact lenses and eye care products developed by other companies. Half of the analysts covering the stock recommend buying, while the remainder recommend holding.

A competitor of Switzerland’s Alcon, the American-Canadian firm Bausch+Lomb is one of the world leaders in contact lenses. The company is also active in ophthalmic surgery, notably with the sale of instruments used in cataract and myopia operations and the insertion of intraocular lenses.

In the pharmaceutical sector, Bausch+Lomb markets several eye drops, particularly for treating dry eye disease and eye infections, as well as for post-operative care. In 2024, the company posted revenues of $4.791 billion, up 16% year-on-year. This growth is expected to slow down in 2025, as Bausch + Lomb anticipates sales of between $5 billion and $5.1 billion (+ 4.5% to + 6.5%). Most analysts recommend holding the stock, which has lost 20% of its value over the past year.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Japan was occupied by the US military. It was in this context that Kyoichi Tanaka, a 19-year-old employee of the Tamamizuya optical shop, first heard about contact lenses from the wife of an American officer.

Through his own research, the young man developed Japan’s first contact lens in 1951 and founded a company to market it. Nearly 75 years later, Menicon has become a multinational corporation that sells its lenses almost everywhere in the world, including Europe, the United States, China and Australia. Like its competitors Alcon, Johnson & Johnson and CooperVision, the company stands to gain from the increase in refractive errors (myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia and astigmatism) and see its sales grow in the coming years. According to projections, 4.9 billion people worldwide will be short-sighted in 2050, compared to 2.6 billion in 2020. Of the five analysts who follow the stock, three recommend buying and the other two recommend holding.