No. 10

Starr Surgical Co.

Monrovia

For all its success over the past five years, Staar Surgical Co. could be in store for more good news.

Analysts are predicting that once the Monrovia-based company gets final approval for its new “implantable contact lenses” from the Federal Drug Administration, its earnings could soar.

“We are expecting approval of some of their products in 1998 and that is going to be a real growth driver,” said Deborah Lowenthal, an analyst for Red Chip Review in Portland, Ore.

Lowenthal projects Staar’s net income to hit $9.5 million in 1998 and $12.3 million in 1999. The company’s net income in 1997 was $7.4 million (57 cents a share), compared with net income of $6.9 million (53 cents) a year earlier.

Revenues for 1997, at $42.5 million, were virtually unchanged from a year earlier.

“They are still developing these products,” said Bill Roberts, a spokesman for Staar. “They are just at the beginning. They are going to become a very big and profitable company.”

Staar develops and produces implantable optical lenses and other products for sufferers of glaucoma. It makes a variety of ophthalmic products for use in microsurgery. Microsurgery takes less time to recover from than traditional ophthalmic surgery and is a less costly procedure.

Jessica Dreben