What Happened?
Shares of medical lens company STAAR Surgical (NASDAQ:STAA) jumped 3.9% in the morning session after the company issued a statement to defend its pending merger process with Alcon against claims from activist investors.
STAAR Surgical addressed what it called "misinformation," refuting allegations from investors like Broadwood Partners. The activist investors claimed that STAAR's management tried to block a potential rival buyer during a "go-shop" period, an assertion the company described as "patently false." This defense followed Alcon's move to increase its all-cash offer to acquire STAAR for $30.75 per share. The revised deal represented a 74% premium to STAAR's 90-day volume-weighted average price. The company encouraged its stockholders to approve the merger at a special meeting scheduled for December 19, 2025.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $24.86, up 3.6% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
STAAR Surgical’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 32 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 2 days ago when the stock gained 9.8% on the news that its merger partner, Alcon, increased its cash buyout offer for the company. Under the amended agreement, Alcon raised its bid from $28.00 to $30.75 per share, boosting the medical technology firm's total value to $1.6 billion. This represented an additional $150 million in equity value for STAAR's stockholders. The new, higher offer came after a "go-shop" period, where STAAR Surgical was permitted to look for competing bids, did not result in any other offers. STAAR's board approved the increased price and recommended that its shareholders vote in favor of the deal.
STAAR Surgical is up 3.1% since the beginning of the year, but at $24.86 per share, it is still trading 13% below its 52-week high of $28.57 from August 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of STAAR Surgical’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $315.02.
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