Eyecare company Bausch + Lomb (NYSE: BLCO) announced better-than-expected revenue in Q4 CY2025, with sales up 9.8% year on year to $1.41 billion. The company’s full-year revenue guidance of $5.43 billion at the midpoint came in 0.8% above analysts’ estimates. Its non-GAAP profit of $0.32 per share was 10.3% below analysts’ consensus estimates.
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Bausch + Lomb (BLCO) Q4 CY2025 Highlights:
- Revenue: $1.41 billion vs analyst estimates of $1.38 billion (9.8% year-on-year growth, 1.5% beat)
- Adjusted EPS: $0.32 vs analyst expectations of $0.36 (10.3% miss)
- Adjusted EBITDA: $330 million vs analyst estimates of $320.7 million (23.5% margin, 2.9% beat)
- EBITDA guidance for the upcoming financial year 2026 is $1.03 million at the midpoint, below analyst estimates of $1.00 billion
- Operating Margin: 8%, up from 6.8% in the same quarter last year
- Constant Currency Revenue rose 7% year on year (11% in the same quarter last year)
- Market Capitalization: $6.28 billion
Company Overview
With a nearly 170-year history dedicated to vision care and eye health innovation, Bausch + Lomb (NYSE: BLCO) develops and manufactures a comprehensive range of eye health products including contact lenses, pharmaceuticals, surgical devices, and consumer eye care solutions.
Revenue Growth
A company’s long-term sales performance can indicate its overall quality. Even a bad business can shine for one or two quarters, but a top-tier one grows for years. Thankfully, Bausch + Lomb’s 8.4% annualized revenue growth over the last five years was decent. Its growth was slightly above the average healthcare company and shows its offerings resonate with customers.
Long-term growth is the most important, but within healthcare, a half-decade historical view may miss new innovations or demand cycles. Bausch + Lomb’s annualized revenue growth of 10.9% over the last two years is above its five-year trend, suggesting some bright spots. 
We can dig further into the company’s sales dynamics by analyzing its constant currency revenue, which excludes currency movements that are outside their control and not indicative of demand. Over the last two years, its constant currency sales averaged 11.4% year-on-year growth. Because this number aligns with its normal revenue growth, we can see that Bausch + Lomb has properly hedged its foreign currency exposure. 
This quarter, Bausch + Lomb reported year-on-year revenue growth of 9.8%, and its $1.41 billion of revenue exceeded Wall Street’s estimates by 1.5%.
Looking ahead, sell-side analysts expect revenue to grow 5.6% over the next 12 months, a deceleration versus the last two years. Despite the slowdown, this projection is above average for the sector and suggests the market is baking in some success for its newer products and services.
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Operating Margin
Operating margin is a key measure of profitability. Think of it as net income - the bottom line - excluding the impact of taxes and interest on debt, which are less connected to business fundamentals.
Bausch + Lomb was profitable over the last five years but held back by its large cost base. Its average operating margin of 4.4% was weak for a healthcare business.
Analyzing the trend in its profitability, Bausch + Lomb’s operating margin decreased by 6.5 percentage points over the last five years. This raises questions about the company’s expense base because its revenue growth should have given it leverage on its fixed costs, resulting in better economies of scale and profitability. Bausch + Lomb’s performance was poor no matter how you look at it - it shows that costs were rising and it couldn’t pass them onto its customers.
This quarter, Bausch + Lomb generated an operating margin profit margin of 8%, up 1.2 percentage points year on year. This increase was a welcome development and shows it was more efficient.
Earnings Per Share
Revenue trends explain a company’s historical growth, but the long-term change in earnings per share (EPS) points to the profitability of that growth – for example, a company could inflate its sales through excessive spending on advertising and promotions.
Bausch + Lomb’s full-year EPS dropped significantly over the last three years. We tend to steer our readers away from companies with falling revenue and EPS, where diminishing earnings could imply changing secular trends and preferences. If the tide turns unexpectedly, Bausch + Lomb’s low margin of safety could leave its stock price susceptible to large downswings.
In Q4, Bausch + Lomb reported adjusted EPS of $0.32, up from $0.25 in the same quarter last year. Despite growing year on year, this print missed analysts’ estimates. Over the next 12 months, Wall Street expects Bausch + Lomb’s full-year EPS of $0.50 to grow 58.2%.
Key Takeaways from Bausch + Lomb’s Q4 Results
It was good to see Bausch + Lomb narrowly top analysts’ revenue expectations this quarter. We were also glad its full-year revenue guidance slightly exceeded Wall Street’s estimates. On the other hand, its full-year EBITDA guidance missed and its EPS fell short of Wall Street’s estimates. Overall, this was a weaker quarter. The stock remained flat at $17.75 immediately following the results.
So do we think Bausch + Lomb is an attractive buy at the current price? We think that the latest quarter is only one piece of the longer-term business quality puzzle. Quality, when combined with valuation, can help determine if the stock is a buy. We cover that in our actionable full research report which you can read here (it’s free).
