Cooper Cos. Falls On 3Q Results, Adjusted Outlook

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of contact lens maker Cooper Cos. fell Friday after the company's fiscal third quarter profit fell far short of Wall Street estimates, and it pared its full-year profit and revenue forecasts.

Shares of the Pleasanton, Calif., company fell $1.17, or 4.4 percent, to $25.50 in heavy afternoon trading.

Cooper's profit of 54 cents per share was 8 cents less than analysts expected on average, according to Thomson Reuters, and its sales were slightly below expectations. For the full year, the company narrowed its profit forecast to a range of $2.27 to $2.29 per share, from $2.16 to $2.36 per share. Cooper now forecasts $1.07 billion to $1.08 billion in revenue, from $1.03 billion to $1.1 billion.

Both outlooks are now lower than analysts had predicted.

In a note to clients, Jefferies and Co. analyst Peter Bye said Cooper's profit margins decreased to a worrying extent in the latest quarter. He said it will be hard for Cooper to improve its profit in its fiscal 2010, which starts Nov. 1.

"Expectations were low in front of the quarter, but not this low," he wrote. Bye kept a "neutral" rating on the stock and trimmed his price target to $26 per share from $28.