Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat, can I get your advice on Cooper Companies (Nasdaq:COO)? Thank you.

Article Excerpt

A: The Cooper Companies Inc., $101.41, symbol COO on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 198.8 million; Market cap: $20.1 billion; www.coopercos.com), is a California-based healthcare business with two operating segments. The first segment is Cooper Vision (75% of revenues); it manufactures and markets soft contact lenses for the vision-correction market worldwide. It specializes in lenses for common eye conditions like astigmatism, presbyopia, and ocular dryness. The second, Cooper Surgical (25%), develops and markets the medical devices, diagnostic products, and surgical instruments and accessories used by gynecologists and obstetricians. Cooper has made a couple of acquisitions over the last few years. In December 2021, it completed the acquisition of Generate Life Sciences for $1.6 billion. Generate Life Sciences was created in 2018 through the merger of California Cryobank Life Sciences, an industry-leading donor sperm and egg bank, and Cord Blood Registry, a leading provider of newborn stem-cell services. The combined firm aimed to serve families from preconception to post-birth. In November 2023, Cooper completed the acquisition of certain…