# Bausch + Lomb (BLCO.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/BLCO

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:26:58.509Z. Financial observations: FY2018–FY2026.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $16.66 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 1 revenue decline in the last 10 years (informational)

- more than 2 net loss years

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 9 years

- Years with declining revenue: 1

- Years with a net loss: 5

- Operating margin variation: 0.43×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2018: 0.11×

- FY2019: 0.10×

- FY2020: 0.08×

- FY2021: 0.09×

- FY2022: 0.05×

- FY2023: 0.03×

- FY2024: 0.03×

- FY2025: 0.04×

- LTM to Jun 2026: 0.07×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- ROIC, median of available years: 3.1%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 1.9%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 3.7 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 60.9%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 57.2%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 5.1%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 1.7%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2019: 5.7%

- FY2020: 3.3%

- FY2021: 4.5%

- FY2022: 2.9%

- FY2023: 1.6%

- FY2024: 1.9%

- FY2025: 2.2%

- LTM to Jun 2026: 4.7%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: -$387M

- Net income, five-year total: -$1.1B

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 1.0 pp

Chart: Owner earnings · five years; fiscal year observations.

- FY2022: $210M

- FY2023: -$59M

- FY2024: -$172M

- FY2025: -$288M

- LTM to Jun 2026: -$78M

### management: fail

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- Per-share earnings: 0.85 to -0.90 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 0.2%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 0.2%

- Per-share value change: -$1.75

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $0.85

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: -$0.90

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.50

- Average buyback yield: 0.2%

- Buyback history: 3 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- ROIC, last three-year median: 1.9%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2018: $2.03

- FY2019: $0.85

- FY2020: -$0.05

- FY2021: $0.52

- FY2022: $0.02

- FY2023: -$0.74

- FY2024: -$0.90

- FY2025: -$1.02

### accounting: pass

- stock compensation exceeds 15% of operating cash flow

- Sloan accruals: -4.6%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.12×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 52.7%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Accounting red flags: 1

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 1.25×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2019: -4.4%

- FY2020: -4.8%

- FY2021: -6.4%

- FY2022: -3.0%

- FY2023: -1.8%

- FY2024: -4.1%

- FY2025: -4.6%

## Holders

- [Carl Icahn](https://gigainvestors.com/ic): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Howard Marks](https://gigainvestors.com/oc): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Daniel Loeb](https://gigainvestors.com/tp): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Up 3% since Oct 2023 · "Bausch + Lomb Delivers Broad-Based Second-Quarter Growth, Raises Full-Year 2026 Guidance" (finance.yahoo.com, Jul 2026) · sales +4.3%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:24.579Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

- 2025-04-30: Bausch + Lomb (NYSE:BLCO) Misses Q1 Sales Targets, Stock Drops 10.4% ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bausch-lomb-nyse-blco-misses-114716175.html))

- 2025-05-14: BLCO Q1 Earnings Call: Misses on Profit, Highlights Product Innovation and Tariff Uncertainty ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blco-q1-earnings-call-misses-103600225.html))

- 2025-07-30: Bausch + Lomb’s (NYSE:BLCO) Q2 Sales Top Estimates, Full-Year Outlook Slightly Exceeds Expectations ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bausch-lomb-nyse-blco-q2-113440520.html))

- 2025-08-13: BLCO Q2 Deep Dive: Product Launches Offset Margin Pressures, Management Highlights Pipeline Investments ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/blco-q2-deep-dive-product-034852549.html))

- 2026-07-29: Bausch + Lomb Delivers Broad-Based Second-Quarter Growth, Raises Full-Year 2026 Guidance ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/healthcare/articles/bausch-lomb-delivers-broad-based-105800569.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +4.3%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1860742/000186074226000007/blco-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-18.

- FY2018: $3.7B 

- FY2019: $3.8B 

- FY2020: $3.4B 

- FY2021: $3.8B 

- FY2022: $3.8B 

- FY2023: $4.1B 

- FY2024: $4.8B 

- FY2025: $5.1B 

- FY2026: $5.3B 

### Gross margin · FY2026

gross margin 57.2%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1860742/000186074226000007/blco-20251231.htm; observed 2026-02-18.

- FY2018: 64.2% 

- FY2019: 64.9% 

- FY2020: 62.3% 

- FY2021: 61.0% 

- FY2022: 59.7% 

- FY2023: 60.4% 

- FY2024: 60.9% 

- FY2025: 54.8% 

- FY2026: 57.2% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in medical instruments & supplies; annual sales are USD 5.1 billion.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1860742/000186074226000007/blco-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-18); FY2025: revenue 5101000000; grossProfit 2793000000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); BLCO.US: Bausch + Lomb Corporation operates as an eye health company in the United States, Puerto Rico, China, France, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Poland, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Vision Care, Pharmaceuticals, and Surgical. The Vision Care segment provides contact lens that covers the spectrum of wearing modalities, including daily disposable and frequently replaced contact lenses; and contact lenses that are indicated for therapeutic use and provide optical correction during healing. It also offers contact lens care products, eye vitamins, mineral supplements, and over-the-counter eye drops that address various conditions, such as eye allergies, conjunctivitis, dry eye, and redness relief. The Pharmaceuticals segment offers proprietary and generic pharmaceutical products for post-operative treatments, as well as for the treatment of glaucoma, eye inflammation, ocular hypertension, dry eyes, and retinal diseases. The Surgical segment provides medical device equipment, consumables, and technologies for the treatment of cataracts, corneal, vitreous, and retinal eye conditions; and intraocular lenses and delivery systems, phacoemulsification equipment, and other surgical instruments and devices for cataract surgery. The company sells its products and services through direct sales forces and independent distributors. Bausch + Lomb Corporation was founded in 1853 and is headquartered in Vaughan, Canada. Bausch + Lomb Corporation operates as a subsidiary of Bausch Health Companies Inc.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 54.8% to 60.9% during 2023–25; it earns 3.1% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-18); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 60.4%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-18); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 60.9%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1860742/000186074226000007/blco-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-18); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 54.8%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-18); 9-year return on capital observations [[2019,0.05667580183024467],[2020,0.03316326530612245],[2021,0.04541303886175409],[2022,0.028627659574468084],[2023,0.015520628683693517],[2024,0.01944689256951831],[2025,0.022243522540062902],[2026,0.04689892204343071]]; median 0.030895462440295268. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Can it raise prices

Kept about a 60% gross margin through 2022 cost inflation.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1860742/000186074226000007/blco-20251231.htm (filed 2026-02-18); Gross margin observations: [[2021,0.6103585657370518],[2022,0.596868365180467],[2023,0.6039556198745779]]; range within 2 percentage points.

### Where the cash goes

Paid no dividends in 8 years.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-18); FY2018: growth capex 0; upkeep 101000000; owner earnings 1104000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-18); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 180000000; owner earnings 587000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-18); FY2020: growth capex 0; upkeep 259000000; owner earnings 165000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-18); FY2021: growth capex 0; upkeep 193000000; owner earnings 404000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-18); FY2022: growth capex 0; upkeep 175000000; owner earnings 210000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-18); Dividend observations: [[2018,0],[2019,0],[2020,0],[2021,0],[2022,0],[2023,0],[2024,0],[2025,0]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 87.3% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); BLCO.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 87.288 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price is 1.2 times annual sales; cash earnings are negative.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-02-18); Closing price 16.66 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2025 annual sales per share 14.41775014132278; price multiple 1.1555200940991963. FY2025 cash earnings/share -0.8140192198982475. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2022-05: $17.01 per share

- 2022-06: $15.24 per share

- 2022-07: $14.39 per share

- 2022-08: $14.88 per share

- 2022-09: $15.34 per share

- 2022-10: $14.26 per share

- 2022-11: $15.13 per share

- 2022-12: $15.51 per share

- 2023-01: $17.24 per share

- 2023-02: $17.44 per share

- 2023-03: $17.41 per share

- 2023-04: $17.46 per share

- 2023-05: $17.86 per share

- 2023-06: $20.07 per share

- 2023-07: $19.87 per share

- 2023-08: $17.93 per share

- 2023-09: $16.95 per share

- 2023-10: $16.14 per share

- 2023-11: $15.41 per share

- 2023-12: $17.06 per share

- 2024-01: $14.01 per share

- 2024-02: $16.50 per share

- 2024-03: $17.30 per share

- 2024-04: $14.54 per share

- 2024-05: $15.34 per share

- 2024-06: $14.52 per share

- 2024-07: $17.22 per share

- 2024-08: $16.43 per share

- 2024-09: $19.29 per share

- 2024-10: $20.28 per share

- 2024-11: $19.82 per share

- 2024-12: $18.06 per share

- 2025-01: $17.35 per share

- 2025-02: $16.00 per share

- 2025-03: $14.50 per share

- 2025-04: $11.56 per share

- 2025-05: $11.47 per share

- 2025-06: $13.01 per share

- 2025-07: $13.63 per share

- 2025-08: $14.63 per share

- 2025-09: $15.07 per share

- 2025-10: $14.94 per share

- 2025-11: $16.19 per share

- 2025-12: $17.08 per share

- 2026-01: $16.70 per share

- 2026-02: $18.30 per share

- 2026-03: $15.90 per share

- 2026-04: $15.90 per share

- 2026-05: $15.65 per share

- 2026-06: $16.56 per share

- 2026-07: $16.91 per share

- 2026-08: $17.48 per share

- 2026-09: $17.00 per share

- 2026-10: $17.30 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

- FY2022: low $13.49 per share, central $15.23 per share, high $17.55 per share

- FY2023: low $7.92 per share, central $8.92 per share, high $10.24 per share

- FY2024: low $7.79 per share, central $8.79 per share, high $10.11 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1860742/000186074226000007/blco-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-18.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.