Staar Surgical Co. insiders and investors are buying stock as they bet the company’s $3,081 lens implants to correct nearsightedness will gain on less-costly Lasik treatments, increasing the potential for a takeover.

Five executives, including Chief Executive Officer Barry Caldwell, have purchased 93,050 non-option related shares so far this year, compared to one 8,000 share purchase last year before he arrived in November, regulatory filings show. The two largest investors, Broadwood Partners Inc., and Heartland Advisors Inc., also boosted their stakes.

Staar is the sole manufacturer of the Visian ICL, a removable contact lens the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved in December 2005. The company has captured less than one percent of the 1.4 million Lasik procedures done annually in the U.S., giving it room to grow and making it a potential acquisition candidate.

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