Here's Why You Should Retain Glaukos Stock in Your Portfolio for Now

Glaukos, with a market capitalization of $10.95 billion, is a leading ophthalmic medical technology and pharmaceutical company. The company has a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 25.87%.

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Positive Factors Driving Prospects

iDose TR Is Rapidly Scaling Into a Major Revenue Engine: Glaukos' iDose TR franchise is rapidly changing the company's revenue profile, with U.S. glaucoma sales rising 64% year over year to $118.5 million in the second quarter and iDose contributing approximately $74 million. The strong adoption reflects growing surgeon interest, expanding trained accounts and increasing utilization across commercial and Medicare Advantage populations.

Management now expects iDose revenues of roughly $275-$280 million in 2026, while maintaining confidence in continued penetration of interventional glaucoma. The platform's growing body of clinical evidence, including 24 peer-reviewed publications and multiple Phase IV studies, should further support physician adoption and establish iDose as an important alternative to chronic topical glaucoma therapy.

Epioxa Launch Opens a New High-Value Growth Opportunity: Epioxa is establishing a second major growth pillar for Glaukos following iDose's rapid commercialization. Corneal Health revenues increased 48% to $30.4 million in the second quarter, including approximately $11 million from Epioxa, despite the product being in the early stages of its launch. Epioxa is the first FDA-approved epithelium-on corneal cross-linking therapy for keratoconus, which offers a differentiated clinical proposition versus legacy epi-off treatment.

Glaukos has already established access pathways covering more than 125 million commercial lives, while its treatment-center network reaches approximately 85% of the U.S. population and is expected to approach 95%. These developments provide substantial infrastructure for accelerating patient adoption.

Higher Sales Outlook and Margin Expansion Look Encouraging: Glaukos is demonstrating meaningful operating leverage as higher-margin iDose and Epioxa products become a larger portion of revenue. The second-quarter consolidated sales increased 50% to $185.6 million, prompting management to raise full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $680-$700 million, $60-$65 million above the previous outlook.

Gross margin reached approximately 85%, up about 90 basis points sequentially, with management expecting additional modest expansion as iDose and Epioxa gain mix share. This combination of rapid top-line growth and favorable product mix should improve the company's earnings profile over time. Management also expects operating expenses of approximately $600 million for 2026 while continuing to invest in commercial infrastructure and R&D.

Diversified Pipeline Boosts Growth Potential: Beyond iDose and Epioxa, Glaukos is developing a broad pipeline across five novel therapeutic platforms, reducing its long-term dependence on any single product. The company is advancing iDose TREX in Phase IIb/III, iDose TRIO toward a targeted 2027 approval, a customized topographically guided iLink therapy toward Phase III, iStent infinite and PRESERFLO MicroShunt programs, and a retinal therapy for wet AMD.

The company also expects to introduce its keratoconus screening device later in 2026. If these programs progress successfully, they could expand Glaukos' addressable markets across glaucoma, corneal disease, retinal disorders and ocular surface conditions, reinforcing its transition toward a diversified ophthalmology platform.

Key Challenges

Medicare Coverage Uncertainty Could Restrict iDose's Potential: The most significant risk to Glaukos' iDose growth trajectory remains Medicare reimbursement and coverage policy. Five of seven Medicare Administrative Contractors issued proposed local coverage determinations during the second quarter. Management has acknowledged meaningful debate ongoing around proposed eligibility criteria and step-edit requirements involving topical drops and selective laser trabeculoplasty.

Although Glaukos expects the final policies to become more favorable, there is no statutory timeline for the next step. A restrictive final LCD could limit physician discretion, delay patient access and reduce the addressable Medicare population. Because iDose is already becoming a major revenue contributor, unfavorable coverage decisions could have an outsized impact on the company's future growth expectations.

Epioxa Could Experience a Temporary Revenue Volatility: Epioxa's commercial trajectory faces a near-term reimbursement transition that could create volatility in reported growth. Its permanent, product-specific J-code became effective July 1, 2026, but management expects providers and its specialty-pharma partner to need time to operationalize the new reimbursement process.

At the same time, the previous Photrexa reimbursement mechanism is being phased out. Management specifically warned that these changes could create uncertainty in the third quarter, potentially disrupting the strong momentum established during the second quarter. Although Glaukos expects the issue to be largely resolved by the fourth quarter, the temporary revenue disruption could make quarterly comparisons less predictable and obscure the underlying pace of Epioxa adoption.

International Glaucoma Growth Faces Headwinds: Glaukos' international glaucoma franchise remains healthy, but its growth outlook incorporates several emerging challenges. International glaucoma revenues increased 17% reportedly and 16% on a constant-currency basis in the second quarter. However, management expects new competitive product trialing to create headwinds across certain major markets.

Reimbursement pressure has emerged in Germany and Switzerland, while foreign-exchange tailwinds are expected to disappear over the second half. Although PreserFlo, iStent infinite and broader MIGS adoption should offset some pressure, the combination of competition, reimbursement changes and less favorable currency translation could moderate international growth. Management nevertheless expects low-to-mid-teens growth for the full year, implying a stronger second-half execution requirement.

Estimate Trend

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 revenues is pegged at $627.6 million, indicating a 36% improvement from the previous year’s level.

The consensus mark for loss per share is pinned at 35 cents, indicating a 61.1% improvement from the year-ago reported number. The consensus estimate for loss per share has narrowed 38.6% in the past 30 days.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space are Globus Medical GMED, West Pharmaceutical WST and The Cooper Companies COO.

Globus Medical, currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), reported a second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.34, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 19.6%. Revenues of $789.6 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.4%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

GMED has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 12.4%. The company’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 27.9%.

West Pharmaceutical, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present, reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted EPS of $2.37, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 13.9%. Revenues of $872.3 million surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.2%.

WST has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 16%. WST’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 17.4%.

The Cooper Companies, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present, reported a second-quarter fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS of $1.21, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 10%. Revenues of $1.08 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.6%.

COO has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 8.3%. COO’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 5.8%.

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