Here's Why You Should Invest In Cooper Companies (COO) Now

The Cooper Companies, Inc. (NYSE:COO) has rallied 31.1% over the last year, higher than the broader industry’s gain of 18.9% and the S&P 500’s 18.3%. The stock has a market cap of $11.24 billion.The company’s five-year historical growth rate is 13.2% as compared to 2.8% of the S&P 500 index and 8.3% of the broader industry.

With solid growth prospects, this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock is an attractive pick at present. The company has a stellar four-quarter average earnings surprise of 4.4%. Also, the long-term expected earnings growth of 10.8% holds promise.

Let’s find out whether the recent positive trend is a sustainable one.

The company’s estimate revision trend for the current year has been positive. In the past 30 days, eight analysts moved north, with no movement in the opposite direction. The magnitude of estimate revision increased around 4.7% to $11.42 per share.

The market is upbeat about the company’s just-reported solid fourth-quarter fiscal 2017 performance. Also, on a full-year basis, earnings and revenues improved substantially. The year-over-year rise in earnings and revenues in the fourth quarter is also encouraging. Furthermore, expansion in gross and operating margin buoys optimism. The CooperVision segment has always been recording impressive results. The CooperSurgical segment also delivered strong sales in the fourth quarter, buoyed by robust Toric performance. The company provided a strong guidance for fiscal 2018.

Moreover, in a bid to drive inorganic growth, Cooper Companies recently announced that CooperVision has completed the buyout of Paragon Vision Sciences. This added a leading ortho-k technology to the company’s lens portfolio. The transaction was closed for around $80 million. According to the company, this buyout is likely to prove neutral to earnings per share in fiscal 2018, excluding one-time charges and deal-related amortization (read more: Cooper Companies' CooperVision Buys Paragon for $80M).

Other Key Picks

Other top-ranked medical stocks are athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHN) , Align Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALGN) and Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MYGN) . Notably, athenahealth, Align Technology and Myriad Genetics sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

athenahealth has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 22.3%. The stock has rallied roughly 39.3% over a year.

Align Technology has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 28.9%. The stock has gained 137.7% in a year.

Myriad Genetics has a long-term expected earnings growth rate of 15%. The stock has gained 84.5% in a year’s time.

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