Bausch & Lomb Sheds No Light

Bausch & Lomb (BOL) continues to leave investors in the dark.

In a special conference call on Wednesday, the contact lens company offered little color on the future of its tainted contact solution franchise or even the company's financial performance overall.

Rather, Bausch & Lomb stopped short of discussing whether its entire ReNu brand -- rather than just the MoistureLoc cleanser it stopped selling here this week -- could suffer as a result of concerns about serious eye infections. Drugstore giant Walgreen (WAG) recently stopped selling all ReNu cleansers, according to a report by Reuters.

Meanwhile, Bausch & Lomb furthered investor pain by saying that it no longer expects to file its past-due financial statements by the end of April. The company, which has been dogged by accounting issues in recent months, provided no explanation for the latest delay.

"I wish I could give you the answer to that," CEO Ronald Zarrella said when questioned by an analyst on Wednesday. But "I just can't say anything more."

Shares of Bausch & Lomb, hammered by the MoistureLoc news earlier this week, continued their slide. They fell 6% Wednessday to a new multiyear low of $46.24.

Words of Reassurance

During Wednesday's conference call, Zarrella tried -- but clearly failed -- to reassure investors.

Of more than 30 million contact lens users in the U.S., he stressed, only 109 have so far been identified as sufferers of rare fungal keratitis infections. However, he admitted, a disproportionate share of those examined have reported using the company's MoistureLoc cleanser.

Still, Zarrella said, investigators have so far found no problem -- either with MoistureLoc's formula or its manufacturing process -- that could be causing the infections. Indeed, he said, the cleanser continues to look "as safe and effective as anything on the market."