Cooper Companies (NASDAQ:COO) held its second-quarter earnings conference call on Thursday. Below is the complete transcript from the call.
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Summary
Cooper Companies reported record revenue of $1.08 billion, an 8% increase, and non-GAAP EPS of $1.21, a 26% increase.
CooperVision saw revenue growth driven by strong performance in the Americas and EMEA, though APAC faced challenges due to market softness and repositioning of legacy hydrogel products.
Cooper Surgical's revenue grew by 8%, with fertility business up 10% organically, and a strategic review is underway to unlock shareholder value, with significant interest from potential buyers.
The company maintained full-year guidance for organic growth at 3.5-4.5%, with regional leadership changes in APAC to address market challenges.
Litigation related to a product recall was largely settled, impacting financials but covered mostly by insurance, and Cooper Companies aims to increase share repurchases moving forward.
Full Transcript
Janine (Operator)
Thank you for standing by. My name is Janine and I will be your conference operator for today. At this time I would like to welcome everyone to the Cooper Company's earnings conference call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question, please press Star one and to withdraw a question, please press Star one again.
I will now hand the call over to Kim Duncan, Vice President of Investor Relations and Risk Management. Please go ahead.
Kim Duncan (Vice President of Investor Relations and Risk Management)
Good afternoon and welcome to Cooper Company's second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Today's call we will discuss results and guidance included in the earnings release and then use the remaining time for questions. Our presenters on today's call are Al White, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Brian Andrews, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that this conference call will contain forward looking statements including statements relating to revenues, EPs, cash flows, interest, FX and tax rates, tariffs and other financial guidance and expectations, strategic and operational initiatives,
market conditions and trends, and product launches and demand. Forward looking statements depend on assumptions, data or methods that may be incorrect or imprecise and are subject to risks and uncertainties. Events that could cause our actual results and future actions of the company to differ materially from those described in forward looking statements are set forth under the caption Forward looking statements in today's earnings release, and are described in our SEC filings, including Cooper's Form 10K and Form 10Q filings, all of which are available on our website at cooperco.com.
also, as a reminder, the non GAAP financial information we will provide on this call is provided as a supplement to our GAAP information. We encourage you to consider our results under GAAP as well as non GAAP and refer to the reconciliations provided in our earnings release, which is available on the Investor Relations section of our website under Quarterly Materials. Should you have any additional questions following the call, please email [email protected] and now I'll turn the call over to Al for his opening remarks.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Thank you Kim and welcome everyone to our Q2 earnings call. We delivered record revenue and non GAAP earnings this quarter, with revenues growing 8% to $1.08 billion and non GAAP earnings per share increasing 26% to $1.21. This marks our 10th consecutive quarter of beating consensus earnings expectations, demonstrating the consistency and disciplined execution of our operating model. We also generated another quarter of robust free cash flow, reinforcing confidence in the strength and durability of our cash generation, CooperVision reported a solid quarter with revenues increasing 8% or 4% organically, driven by continued strength in the Americas
and momentum in EMEA. Cooper Surgical also performed well with revenues up 8% or 6% organically, led by our fertility business growing 13% or 10% organically. We also delivered meaningful operating margin expansion this quarter as back office consolidation and efficiency initiatives continue to deliver operating leverage, especially within Cooper Surgical. Overall, our results reflect steady execution against our strategy of driving sustainable, profitable growth through innovation, new product introductions, leveraging our infrastructure, generating free cash flow and gaining market share.
Now, before moving into quarterly details, let me address two key topics. First is our strategic review. We initiated this process to evaluate opportunities to unlock long term shareholder value across a range of potential outcomes. At the same time, we've been working through litigation related to a December 2023 embryo Culture media recall in our fertility business. We've now reached settlements with substantially all of the claimants in this case, as disclosed in the Form 8K, which was filed this evening with our earnings release.
With that done, we are now actively advancing discussions with multiple parties that have submitted significant indications of interest in Cooper Surgical. To summarize that activity, we've received robust interest in Cooper Surgical and in conjunction with our board and the assistance of our advisors, we're focused on identifying the optimal path forward to maximize shareholder value. Cooper Surgical's strong performance, highlighted by record revenue and non GAAP earnings this past quarter, strengthens our confidence in the business and underscores our view that this is a very valuable asset.
That said, we are working with speed and plan to provide a more definitive update to the market soon. Second is an update on our capital allocation strategy. We remain focused on investing in high return organic growth opportunities, maintaining balance sheet flexibility and repurchasing shares. While buybacks were limited this quarter, they remain a core part of our strategy and we expect to be significantly more active moving forward. With that, let's turn to our Q2 performance starting with CooperVision.
After achieving an 18th consecutive year of share gains in 2025, our focus is on extending that streak. We remain the number one global contact lens company with roughly one third of all wearers using CooperVision lenses, and we expect this leadership position to continue serving as a key driver of revenue share gains as wears continue transitioning to daily silicone hydrogel lenses. Additionally, our leadership position in pediatric Myopia control through MiSight will remain an important growth driver for the quarter.
CooperVision delivered revenue of $724 million, driven by share gains in both the Americas and EMEA. The Americas grew 7% supported by continued strength in premium lenses while EMEA increased 6% fueled by strong demand for MyDay and MiSight, further reinforcing our number one position in that region for both revenue and wears in Asia. APAC revenue declined 6% as we continue repositioning our portfolio and including rationalizing legacy hydrogel products and managed through broader market softness across the region, including greater than expected weakness in Japan which created additional headwinds and further pressured our results.
Turning to products daily, silicone hydrogel lenses grew 8% with our flagship MyDay brand delivering double digit growth driven by expanding customer partnerships and success with premium products. We also saw gains across both branded and private label channels with improvement across all regions and particular strength in Multifocals and Energys and both of these products remain key growth drivers as we continue rolling them out in new markets.
The Multifocal has excellent momentum supported by its next generation optical design that enables an easy to fit lens with consistent performance across different lighting conditions, distances and patient profiles. And Energys continues to perform exceptionally well benefiting from its innovative design that combines premium optics with advanced material technology designed specifically for maximum comfort in today's always on digital lifestyle.
With respect to clarity, we continue to upgrade the portfolio including upcoming launches of our next generation Multifocal and EMEA and Asia pack and the Toric and Multifocal launch in Japan. Turning to our FRP portfolio, Biofinity delivered strong results growing 5% organically. Growth was led by Toric and Multifocal lenses including our market leading extended ranges and made to order offerings. Parameter breadth continues to be a key driver for biofinity supported by our highly innovative and flexible manufacturing platforms that offer more than six times the prescription options that than all other monthly brands combined.
As a result, eye care practitioners can fit virtually any patient who walks through the door using just this one product family. Turning to myopia control, Mysight delivered an excellent quarter growing 24% to 32 million. Our newest market, Japan is exceeding expectations with strong and accelerating momentum. We recently hosted the 6th Annual Asia APAC Myopia Management Summit in Tokyo highlighting the clinical performance and patient benefits of MiSight and are seeing increased awareness and adoption following the event.
Also, our recent launch of the highly innovative MyDay MiSight in Europe is performing extremely well as eye care practitioners absolutely love this product and we're seeing a similar reception as we expand availability globally. At the same time, we're increasing our consumer awareness activity during the high demand back to school period by having multiple markets run national marketing campaigns to further build parent awareness. Overall, these initiatives spanning innovation, geographic expansion, customer partnerships and consumer activation reinforce our confidence in MiSight's continued robust growth.
Turning to Cooper Surgical Q2 revenue reached 358 million reflecting growth of 8% or 6% on an organic basis. Within this, fertility performed well, growing 10% organically to 144 million. Growth was driven by strength across our leading global portfolio of products and services including capital equipment where we saw strength in the US and continued global momentum from witness our highly successful automated lab tracking system. These capital sales provided a near term lift while also positioning us for longer term growth as they drive incremental consumable demand over time.
Additionally, late quarter buy in activity in the Middle east contributed to performance as distributors restocked following the reopening of airspace. Geographically, results were led by EMEA where we continued gaining share and solid performance in the Americas. Asia APAC was mixed with softness in China offset by strength in other markets. By product category growth was led by genomics, capital equipment and consumables supported by new clinic wins, expansion within existing accounts and continued adoption of recently launched products.
Looking ahead, underlying fertility trends remain healthy and we anticipate continued strength in the back half of the year with fertility expected to grow in the mid single digit range. The long term outlook also remains positive supported by a strong innovation pipeline, particularly in our equipment portfolio. Regarding the overall global fertility market, we continue to expect steady improvement supported by improving cycles and increasing investments in technology and workflow optimization by fertility clinics.
The fundamental drivers of the industry also remain intact, including the ongoing trend of delayed childbirth and expanding access to care. This was recently highlighted in the US with updated CDC data showing US fertility rates fell in 2025 to a new annual low of 3.6 million births. Within this, women aged 30 and older now comprise 53% of all births and for the first time in the US more babies were born to women 40 and above than to women under 20.
In response to these trends, support for expanding IVF coverage is growing. For example, in California starting in January this year, most large group health plans with over 100 employees are now required to cover IVF and infertility treatments, significantly increasing access to care. Moving office in surgical products and services sales reached 214 million, up 4%. Medical devices grew a healthy 6% as our surgical obgyn and specialty devices continued to deliver strong performance.
Imperagard came in ahead of expectations, delivering flat revenue for the quarter. Now before I turn the call over to Brian, let me conclude with a few comments on our revenue guidance for CooperVision. We're guiding to full year organic growth of 3.5 to 4.5%, similar to our peers. We expect market growth at the low end of the historical 4 to 6% range with Asia APAC weighing on the category while EMEA in the Americas remain healthy. Importantly, this softness is regional, not global, and we view it as temporary as Asia APAC resets amid economic pressure, especially in China and Japan and to a lesser extent Korea, specifically for CooperVision.
We now expect Asia Pac to decline in Q3 with pressure from both the market and our ongoing rationalization of legacy hydrogel products. That said, we now have full regional leadership in place, including a new regional head and new country managers in Japan, Korea and China, and we're seeing strengthening execution and commercial discipline, including progress on Monday contract wins and product launches. Outside of Asia pac, demand remains solid for premium products including daily silicone hydrogel lenses as well as Torx and Multifocals.
For Cooper Surgical, our guidance is unchanged at 4 to 5% organic growth. And with that I'll turn the call over to Brian.
Brian Andrews (Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer)
Thank you Al and good afternoon everyone. Most of my commentary will be on a non GAAP basis, so please refer to today's earnings release for a reconciliation of GAAP to non GAAP Results for the second fiscal quarter, consolidated revenue was 1.08 billion, representing an 8% increase year over year or 5% on an organic basis. Gross margin of 68.1% was roughly flat year over year as positive currency offset higher costs including tariffs.
Operating expenses rose just 1%, reflecting benefits from last year's reorganization that delivered efficiencies across the organization. This progress is particularly evident at Cooper Surgical, where expenses declined year over year for the second consecutive quarter. Importantly, this significant operating leverage has been achieved while continuing to invest in key revenue growth initiatives.
Operating income increased 19%, resulting in a 27.5% operating margin. Interest expense was 20.9 million and the effective tax rate was 15.4%. Non GAAP EPS grew 26% to $1.21 with roughly 196 million average shares outstanding. Strong free cash flow of $96 million was used to reduce net debt to 2.3 billion and repurchase 13 million of stock before moving to guidance. Let me address the litigation charge we took this quarter.
In December of 2023, Cooper Surgical initiated a voluntary recall of one batch of embryo culture media consisting of three specific lots, which led to claims and lawsuits being filed across various jurisdictions alleging damages associated with the use of the product. Between December 2023 and mid March 2026, we resolved a significant number of claims and lawsuits through settlements which were largely covered by Insurance.
From mid March 2026, we identified developments which resulted in a reassessment of our exposure. With this, we proceeded with negotiations and reached settlement agreements covering over 95% of claimants. Based on this, we concluded that a loss was probable and reasonably estimable, particularly with respect to potential exposure exceeding available insurance coverage.
The net impact to resolve outstanding claims was $271.6 million, consisting of 324.1 million of accrued settlement, partially offset by 52.5 million of insurance recoveries. We have excluded this charge from our non GAAP earnings. Additional information regarding this matter is provided in the form 8K filed today with the earnings release, and further accounting details will be included in our Form 10Q, which we anticipate filing tomorrow June 5th.
Turning to the full year fiscal 2026 guidance, we've updated expectations with revenues expected to be roughly 4.28 to 4.32 billion, reflecting growth of 5 to 6% or organic growth of 3.5 to 4.5%. CooperVision revenue is expected to be in the range of roughly 2.88 to 2.91 billion of 5 to 6% or 3.5 to 4.5% organically and Cooper Surgical remains essentially unchanged with a range of roughly 1.4 to 1.41 billion, up 4% to 5% as reported and organically.
Interest expense is expected to be around 85 million and the effective tax rate is expected to be around 15.5%. For earnings, we're maintaining guidance at $4.58 to $4.66 and we're increasing our 2026 free cash flow outlook to roughly $650 million, excluding any litigation payouts, the majority of which we do expect will be made during fiscal 2026. There are several key considerations underlying this guidance.
As discussed on prior earnings calls, we continue to expect gross margins to decline year over year for the third quarter. Specifically, we expect gross gross margins of approximately 66%. This is primarily driven by unfavorable FX and certain higher costs, including tariffs, freight and the impact of lower production at CooperVision, where success from our new AI enhanced inventory control system is allowing us to reduce inventory levels.
Importantly, while this inventory work will occur over time, it benefits free cash flow, reinforcing our confidence in our 2026 free cash flow objectives and in achieving $2.2 billion in free cash flow from 2026 through 2028. Regarding tariffs, our guidance assumes approximately $22 million this fiscal year, but does not include any potential tariff refunds.
Should refunds materialize, they could be as much as $15 million and would provide meaningful upside. The guidance also does not include any accretion from share repurchases. With that, I will turn it over to the operator for questions.
Jeff Johnson (Equity Analyst)
Thank you. Good afternoon, guys. Can you hear me okay? Yep. Hey Jeff, so a couple questions here. Let me just start first on apac, expecting another quarter of declines. I think we're four quarters in a row now. A flat down. You do swing from kind of a plus 5 comp that you came against this quarter when you did the minus 6 to a negative 5% comp if my model is correct. So how do you what are the drivers of that staying negative on top of a negative 5% comp and just any progress you're making on getting through some of those older hydrogels and any other updates you can provide on what's going on in Asia Pact and I have one mysite follow up question.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Sure. Yeah, you're exactly right. From a comp perspective on how we move from Q2 to Q3, I would say the difference in that market from what we've seen in prior quarters is softness in the market itself. That Asia APAC market, especially when we look at Japan and China, is softer than we anticipated it was going to be. It looks like as we sit here, it's going to continue to be soft. I'm talking about the market. So we're continuing to do what we're doing, which is executing on my day and repositioning the products and so forth and rationalizing the hydrogels.
But we're doing it in a market that's now considerably softer than when we started the process. We still have a little ways to go on rationalizing the hydrogel products and it's going to continue to put pressure on us for probably, I don't know, maybe all through 2027 even, but we're starting to get it behind us. The numbers are starting to get smaller. So the impact is at least being reduced.
Jeff Johnson (Equity Analyst)
All right, let me just pull on that thread and I'll just ask my, my site question on the callback tonight. But just as you talk about that, potentially consider continuing through 2027, should we think about APAC then? And I know it's hard to predict where the market goes, but especially for your part of the business, on reducing some of that FRP exposure there or the hydrogel exposure, should we think about Asia PAC being flat as we get into 2027?
Are we going to stay in negative territory for the next six quarters? And again, I know it's hard to predict and you don't guide by geography or product line. But just on that comment, and sorry about the dog, but on that comment, if you can provide any color. Thanks.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Yeah, because it'll be dependent largely on what that market does. I think we get to a point here, probably even in Q4 here, not this quarter, next quarter, where we're going to be essentially in line with market. I think we'll probably grow in line with market is my guess, in 2027. So it'll end up being dependent on that market. Right now I would probably argue that market is essentially flat. I mean it might even be down a little bit, but flat down.
So we'll see what the market does. But I think we'll at least be back in line with the market in Q4 this year and through 2027.
John Black (Equity Analyst)
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of John Black from Stateville. Please go ahead.
Great. Thanks guys and good afternoon. Al, maybe I'll just start with the strategic review for csi. I'm just curious, is, you know that interest that you cited for multiple parties, is that for the entire CSI business or is it, you know, call it different parties more looking for different pieces of the business, any color that you can provide and sort of elaborate there?
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Sure, yeah. We received, I don't know how else to say other than significant interest in the entire business and in pieces of the business both. But I would say there's a sufficient number of parties that have given indications of interest that are on the entire business. That's how we're moving forward.
John Black (Equity Analyst)
Okay, fair enough. And then Brian, I'll do some sort of real time math which is always dangerous, but the 1H EPS for the year is I think $2.31 if I've got that right. It's exactly 50% of the full year guidance at the midpoint.
And for each of the past three years, 1H was closer to about 45 or 46%. So in other words, like, that would sort of imply maybe some upside to the EPS guidance. I know you called out maybe those inventory dynamics with AI better controlling the inventory and so therefore, I guess like less consumption.
Brian Andrews (Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer)
But is that everything or why would you have that delta relative to past years when it does seem like you guys are doing a really, really good job on the OPEX side of things? Thank you. Hi, John. Yes, thanks for the question. I mean, certainly we are driving strong operational results, you know, top to bottom, including stronger sales margins, leverage. You know, I think, you know, my guess is that there is a little bit of a mismatch really between how the street and we modeled FX for the year.
I gave an FX tailwind last quarter of 1% for the year. So what you saw in the first half was a pretty decent amount of FX favorability that flowed through the bottom line. So the EPS growth that you saw in the 20s between Q1 year over year and Q2, you know, certainly is a direct result of all the work we've done exiting Q4 to drive a stronger operating model. But the FX favorability, when I talked about the 1%, that was really what you see in the second half of the year is really FX turning decently negative.
And so that starts here in Q3 with an FX negative to Q3 and then again here in Q4. So it's probably just a bit of a timing and modeling phenomenon, if you will. But expect continued strong operational delivery with of course, the noise around tariffs and some of those other costs that I talked about. Helpful caller. Thanks, guys.
Jason Bedner (Equity Analyst)
Hey, good afternoon. I'll actually follow up real quick here on the guide. A couple of pieces here just really in the context of you beat consensus by 11 cents. We're not touching the guide here for the rest of the year. Just, is that a little bit of conservatism, a little bit of maybe some of the uncertainty around APAC demand on the CVI side. Just trying to juxtapose that against raising last quarter when you beat as well.
So just is there something different here as we think about the philosophy? And then on the 2.2 billion free cash flow figure, just want to confirm that's more of an adjusted figure that doesn't account for the litigation outflow. That we got over the settlement that we learned about today. Sure.
Brian Andrews (Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer)
I'll take the second one first and maybe I'll can jump in on the first one on the $2.2 billion free cash flow that is inclusive of our expected payouts related to litigation.
So what I'm trying to convey here is, you know, we are delivering a strong operating, strong operating results this year and I expect that to continue the work we're doing to optimize inventory through the use of our technology enabled systems, our supply chain system that I mentioned in our prepared remarks are helping us to drive better inventory balances.
So while that's a little bit of a pressure on gross margins for the remainder of this year and next year, it is a positive, it does have a positive impact on driving free cash flow. So the 2.2 billion is essentially an increase from where we were to start the year with respect to the litigation because we're hurdling that litigation and reiterating the $2.2 billion in free cash flow. I guess I'll start with the other question.
I mean the first question on why the EPS guidance is remaining the same. I mean, I think it's basically like I said earlier To John, the FX as we modeled didn't change for Q2. The year over year impact for Q2 was $0.08 and we thought it was. We expected it to be $0.08 when we exited Q1. So really the delta is in just the impact of the FX unfavorability in the second half. So certainly we are expecting some higher costs. I don't know.
I think it's a balanced guidance and We've taken down CooperVision revenues a little bit. But you know, I think the guidance is prudent where we've set it and believe that, you know, we're putting ourselves in a position to deliver.
Jason Bedner (Equity Analyst)
All right, helpful. Just maybe one follow up here on the share repo strategy. Like the stocks is as cheap as it's been in a long time, but obviously this is a lower buyback activity period relative to what we saw last quarter. Were you blacked out at all from buying back stock in the quarter? Was U.S. free cash an issue? Just trying to figure out just how we think about the approach that you took here in the quarter.
I hear what you're saying on being more active going forward, but was there something else that limited the activity here in the fiscal second quarter?
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Yeah, Jason, there was. So we started purchasing a few shares back, a very small amount essentially a few days after we reported earnings, but then took you could argue a conservative position if you wanted to, on share buybacks given other activity. We do not have those restrictions now and would anticipate exiting this call being much more aggressive on share buybacks going forward.
Jason Bedner (Equity Analyst)
Understood. Thanks so much.
Larry Bigelson (Equity Analyst)
Thank you. Next question will be coming from Larry Bigelson from Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the question. Hey, Al, I'm actually going to ask two on the strategic review you talked about. I'll just ask the first one and then after your answer, the second one. So historically, I think you've believed that it made sense to keep CVI and CSI together. What's changed for you? That's the first question.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Sure. Well, I mean, the reason I like keeping them together was for flexibility, if you will. Right. One had a good quarter, didn't it? Was able. We were able to move things around. We have a lot of cash flow as a combined business and I always believed that we would be able to get significant back office synergies out of the business once we stopped doing acquisitions and had a chance to do that, which we did. Right. We stopped doing acquisitions.
Been what, a year and a half or almost two years since we've done an acquisition. And you're seeing the leverage that we're able to drive through back office consolidation, deliver the earnings this quarter that we just had and the increasing cash flow. So I still like that piece of it. But I also look at the market right now and I look at where our valuation is today, which I believe is absurd.
I look at the strength of the Cooper Surgical business and we're in a position right now, and we're probably not alone within the medical device industry where there's a good argument that private investors are willing to pay a premium price over the public markets. If that is the case, and it certainly appears that may be the case, then we're going to do what's best for our shareholders.
And if what's best for our shareholders is to transact, then that is what we're going to do.
Larry Bigelson (Equity Analyst)
Okay. And then second, I guess, do you expect to have an update before the next earnings call? You said soon. And is there any reason why a deal wouldn't happen for CSI based on the offers coming in? Thanks.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
It's a little tough to answer that one. We got the litigation stuff done, so we moved into, if you will, round two of the process and we're going to work on that really fast right now and see what kind of progress we can make if that happens to be before we report earnings in the beginning of September, we'll certainly get a release out there. If not, you know, by then at least. But we'll see.
I mean, we're there's nothing there's nothing now holding us back from being able to move very quickly.
Larry Bigelson (Equity Analyst)
Thank you, Al.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Yeah, thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Yong Lee from Jefferies. Please go ahead. All right, great. Thanks for taking a question. I guess to begin was curious if you can make some Comments on Fiscal 3Q or Fiscal 4Q revenue splits, if there's any color you can provide to help us model it out. I'm not sure what you're asking, honestly.
Yong Lee (Equity Analyst)
Just like revenue gating maybe. I'm not sure. We didn't provide. No, just the revenue cadence for fiscal 3q versus 4q is the implied guidance for the second half of the year?
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Well, I would probably say as I just think about it kind of off the top of my head without numbers or anything, you know, CooperVision will be okay in Q3 and be a little bit better in Q4 is what I would envision. That's kind of what we've been seeing and executing through Cooper Surgical should have a decent Q3 and a decent Q4. I'm not sure like we don't give quarterly guidance or specific numbers or ranges or anything.
So probably directionally that's what I would say.
Yong Lee (Equity Analyst)
Great. That's really helpful. I guess just on the fertility business,
it rebounded to double digits earlier than expected. Heard some of the positive comments from your prepared remarks. I guess can you maybe talk a little bit more about what you're seeing in the market and how that progress
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
can maybe continue through the rest of the year? Yeah, we went through a period within the fertility industry where we were seeing a lot of consolidation among fertility clinics and we were seeing a much greater focus on clinics driving their own profitability. So we went through that period and depressed our results. It depressed the market's results for a while, and now we're working through that.
We had a good quarter here from a capital equipment perspective, and when we're putting capital in, that's a really good sign for us. So, yeah, it pumps up like an individual quarter because capital can always be a little bit lumpy, but it also gives us future consumable sales. So you're seeing right now a market that's getting a little bit better. It's not going to shoot up, but it's going to continue to progress and get a little bit better.
And you're seeing us taking a little bit of share in that space. And again, it might be a little lumpy with capital, but from a market perspective, we believe we're going to continue to see positive trends.
Steve Fitzman (Equity Analyst)
Thank you. Next question from Steve Fitzman of William Blair. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Hi guys. I guess first, Al, it sounds like you're seeing a firm end market in us, in Europe, in the US what are you seeing on price? I know you've been conservative on that, but do you see some opportunities given maybe inflation staying stubbornly high here?
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Yeah, price is okay when it comes to the US Market. Okay. In emea, it's still a challenge. In Asia pac, when we look at inflation and we look at where pricing is and opportunities, I mean we took price pricing earlier this year like we normally do. We've seen some competitors take pricing out there. I guess I would just say we'll continue to evaluate it.
The nice thing is when you look at most of the world outside of Asia pac, there continues to be a lot of interest in premium products, higher priced products, and there's not a pushback necessarily on some of the price increases or people just transitioning over to a higher priced product. So I won't kind of commit to anything on that. But yeah, inflation is kind of staying stubbornly high, so to speak.
I mean, Brian mentioned we see some of the costs roll through our own P and L. So we'll continue to take a look at it.
Steve Fitzman (Equity Analyst)
Got it. And then just in Japan, have you launched clarity, toric and multifocal? I wasn't sure if that hit the market. And could that still help in that lower price environment that you've obviously been dealing with here the last few quarters?
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Yeah, that is launching soon. I am excited about that by the way, because that does give us the full Clarity family there to compete as we try to move hydrogel wearers over to a silicone hydrogel, be it our own wearers right now, a number of who we're losing. But as we get that launch in Japan, that's going to help us keep our own wearers transitioning from older products into that silicone hydrogel. And it's going to give us the opportunity to go after the market a little bit more.
So that's coming. I don't think that'll have much of an impact, honestly in this fiscal year, but we'll probably get a little bit positive impact in Q4 and then more in 2027.
Steve Fitzman (Equity Analyst)
Great. Thanks, Al.
Travis Steed (Equity Analyst)
Next question from Travis Steed of Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Hey, thanks for the question. I really wanted to ask about the lower revenue guidance, the 100 basis points lower, is that all APAC and what exactly has changed versus three months ago in APAC? Is it more market, more execution? Is the market stuff new? I'm just trying to understand what's changed and why the lower guide.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Yeah, it's Asia PAC and it's market based. I mean, that's just to be very succinct. That's what it is.
Travis Steed (Equity Analyst)
Okay, and what's the. Why has the market changed versus three months ago? Just want to make sure that's clear to everybody.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Consumer weakness, we really see that not in every market, but we see it in Japan and we see it in China. Now China's not very large for us, so it's bigger in Japan where we've seen that. Just consumer softness. Those markets, keep in mind a lot of those markets are more consumer markets, if you will, than medical devices, meaning you don't need a script to buy contact lenses.
So in a lot of our markets around the world, including in Asia pac, we definitely have a more of a consumer bent, like almost a discretionary consumer event, if you will, than we do a medical device sale. And we're seeing some of that activity in that region right now. Some of the soft consumer activity in that region.
Travis Steed (Equity Analyst)
Yeah, got it. And then on if there is a CSI fill, I would assume the proceeds are used for buyback. Just want to make sure that's the right assumption.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
That's correct. I would assume that the vast majority of them are certainly used for buybacks. Yeah, we'll have to look obviously at Remainco, if you will, balance sheet, and there'll be a number of things we'll need to evaluate there. But a significant portion of it certainly will be used for share buybacks. That's right.
Travis Steed (Equity Analyst)
Okay, thank you. Yeah.
David Saxon (Equity Analyst)
Next question from David Saxon of Needham and Company. Please go ahead.
Great. Yeah, thanks. Good morning. Or good afternoon, I should say. Just wanted to follow up on the apex. So down six, I guess. How much of that was the market and this consumer softness you've talked to versus rationalizing the legacy hydrogel part of the portfolio. And then just on that repositioning, like what inning are you in at this point?
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Yeah, it's always hard to parse that kind of stuff out, you know, But I mean, the guide down was because of the market. I think it could have been like half of that six came, if you will, from the market. When I think about where we are from a hydrogel perspective, we're probably more than halfway, but not much farther. Right. Fifth inning or something like that. We still have some work to do.
David Saxon (Equity Analyst)
Okay, thanks for that. And then just on Clarity, so I mean, it sounds like there it was probably kind of in line with last quarter's growth, I guess. What's the outlook for that product, you know, as you look out to the back half in 2017? Thanks so much.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Yeah, you know, clarity was actually a little bit weaker this quarter than last quarter. My day was stronger and kind of more than made up for it, if you will. I think that the big thing on clarity right now is that we do have to get it properly positioned in Asia pac, which we're very actively doing. Right. Get those products launched, get the multifocal out there so we have the full set of products and start getting that product rolling again. I mean, the market, as odd as it sounds like the market continues to go to premium products, which is not where Clarityty is positioned.
Clarityty is much more of a. It's super easy handling. I mean, it's by far the easiest lens for someone to insert and remove. So if you're a new wearer, like you're going to clarity all day long. But it's not positioned and being sold as a premium product, which oddly or interestingly enough, the market continues to gravitate towards. So I think that Clarityty is not in a bad space. It's still a pretty decent sized product for us. If we can get the other launches out, we can finish some of the repositioning, we can get it going again.
David Saxon (Equity Analyst)
Great. Thank you.
Anthony Petrone (Equity Analyst)
Thank you. Next question from Sir Anthony Petrone from Mizuho Group. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Maybe a couple just on strategic comments, csi, is there any major difference in the margin profile of Office Surgical and Fertility, Just as we consider if it goes piecemeal or as a whole, and if you sort of look ahead to a scenario where CVI standalone, maybe just an update on where the bulk of
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
capital allocation would go.
Anthony Petrone (Equity Analyst)
What could you expect a standalone CVI to sort of look like operationally and what does the standalone effective tax rate looks like? Thanks.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Yeah, so I don't want to speculate too much on that. I would say that given where we are from a capex perspective, in Cooper Vision, as a standalone entity, we'll generate decent free cash flow in Cooper Surgical and I would imagine a significant portion of that would go to a very consistent share buyback program. I'll hold off kind of providing more color until we have a little bit more visibility on. On a transaction.
On the margin question, I'm going to hold off answering that one too But I will say just to be clear, like although we have received significant interest on the individual pieces of surgical, we are proceeding as of today with the entire business because we have enough interest at high enough levels in the entire business that that's the way we're proceeding. That business is fairly integrated.
So if you look at fertility and medical device like you, we have co located plants, co located distribution facilities and so forth. I'm not saying that you can't split things like that up, but it becomes very difficult to do something like that. So right now that's not where the focus is, the focus on the entire business.
Anthony Petrone (Equity Analyst)
Helpful, thanks. Yep,
Nabin (Equity Analyst)
thank you. Next question from Nabin from bmp Pariba, please go ahead. Hi, thanks for taking my questions on cvi. If you could discuss the contribution of the new launches. I know you mentioned the myopia control in Japan, the my day Miceyte in Europe. So we'd be interested to hear about the contribution in Q2 and for the rest of the year. And then on Cooper Surgical, your closest competitor had called out improving market conditions and IVF cycles.
So do you see similar trends as well? Continuing and also changes in the competitive landscape as the competitor has also called out market share gains. And then just a quick one on the strategic review. Thank you for the helpful color on the interest. Would you say that the litigation has slowed down the review process by a quarter or so? Thank you.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Yeah, a couple there. So let me hit those. The last one is litigation slowed down the process. The answer to that is yes. However, the litigation is now done and settled and we're moving on from that and able to move quickly. So yes it did, but it's behind us so we needed to get that done and we did get that done. If I look at fertility. Yeah. I would agree with our peers who have talked about a strike fitting market. I mentioned that earlier.
We are continuing to see strength in the market. I know we've had some peers come out and say that they're taking share. I guess numbers are numbers, right? Like I don't know what to comment other than look at the numbers. If you look at new launches within CooperVision, you're touching on Mysite. There's a push and pull going on in Mysite right now. So as glasses continue to enter the market, that is a negative to contact lenses. Short term.
I continue to say that short term, short term, we want more and more kids in myopia control products. We're seeing more and more kids go on myopia control products. Glasses are doing Incredibly well around the world. But that is a short term negative for us. It's kind of pulling our growth down. The flip side is the positive reaction to my day. My site in Europe, which is great. Mysite in Japan, which is going really well.
We have quite a bit in R and D and new products that we're developing and some new products that we're going to launch that I'm really excited about. So there's definitely a push and pull going on right now within that space. But that's why, you know, we did what, 23% growth last quarter, 24% did over a little 100, a little over 100 million last year in revenue.
So it's a real product line that's continuing to grow and I think as long as we can stay focused on it, which we will, and we can drive performance and we can come out with new and innovative products which we're going to, we're going to continue to see nice growth from our Myopia control franchise.
Nabin (Equity Analyst)
Thank you for the color.
Joan (Equity Analyst)
Yep, thank you. Next question is from Joan from Citigroup. Please go ahead. Hey, how are you doing today? Thank you for taking the question. I want to touch base on just two things and get an update on the manufacturing of your my day lenses. And also Paraguard looks like it was flat sequentially. Year over year might be the right answer, which is better than I think most expected. And if you could just give us a feel for what's going on there, that too would be great.
Thank you so much.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Yeah. Hey John. Yeah. With paraguard it was flat against, as you'll remember from last year, pretty hard comp. We were launching the single hand inserter last year. So yeah, paraguard, we were expecting Paraguard to be down. It was flat this quarter, so it's doing well. I mean that product grew nicely last year and right now it's well positioned. That single hand inserter is helping us. We're well positioned. Team's doing a really nice job selling it.
So I continue to think that we've got a chance to put up good numbers in paraguard on the manufacturing of lenses. Probably not too much to add there. We're continuing to crank along. I think the one thing that Brian highlighted which is important is, you know, our inventory levels internally got a little high as we were supporting like MDR and supporting customers around the world through our logistics, which can get kind of complex with all the private labels and so forth.
We do, we implemented a new AI based inventory control system and the team has done Just a really, really nice job with that. And that targeting and that work they're doing is allowing us to reduce our inventory levels and we're going to continue to do that. That's going to be an effort that's going to happen the rest of this year and all of next year. So that does have a negative that Brian mentioned in terms of less production, higher cost per unit, but it has a clear positive impact on cash flow.
So we'll give more color as that as we proceed through that and those details kind of come out. But yeah, we're continuing to work through that process. That process. I mean ultimately that that is about a more efficient business. So to me it's positive.
Joan (Equity Analyst)
Thank you.
Robbie Marcus
Yep. Next question from Robbie Marcus from JP Morgan, please go ahead.
Oh, great. Good afternoon. Thank you for taking the questions. Two for me. First, Al, sorry to come back to this. Just wanted to ask again on the Asia PAC market weakness, you said it's a bit Cooper related. A bit Cooper a bit market related. Is it that volumes are going down in the market? Is it that consumers are shifting to private label? Are they extending wear more than usual? Are they trading back to glasses?
Maybe just give us a little more flavor for what exactly is happening to cause the slowdown so we can get a better sense of how transient it might be?
you're definitely getting some of what you were just talking about, Robby, which is some changing in wearer behavior. We see that every once in a while in different markets. We're seeing that there. It's always tough to fine tune that as to whether it's somebody wearing glasses or how often they're doing it or what they're doing with their contact lenses and so forth.
But we are seeing that type of activity when we've seen that in the past, that'll happen for a year and eventually you annualize that. And eventually, by the way, it swings back the other way as people start wearing contact lenses more. So I think that's what we're seeing. The other thing we're seeing there is a little bit more online purchase activity, meaning a little bit more E commerce activity. That is not where we're strong.
We're strong with the fitters. We're a little bit weaker when you talk about online activity. So there's been a little bit of shift over there, which is a little bit of a negative for us. But I think if you're talking about the market, it's largely tied to that dynamics you were talking about.
And you don't have pricing over There, I mean that's the other thing is we're able to get positive pricing around the world and this shift of more premium products and in that market you just don't really have any pricing.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Got it. Okay. Separate question. As we think about a potential separation of the women's health business, how should we think about the fully burdened operating margin for each of the companies and the free cash flow that each generates? Because you talked before about one of the strong rationales is you've integrated it well in the back office.
So I'd imagine there's probably a good amount of dis synergies to stand that up if whatever acquirer doesn't have those back office capabilities to stand it up with. And then I know there's some tax dis synergies as well. Anything you could comment on that? Just as we think about maybe splitting them up and what a remain coat might look like. Thanks a lot.
Robbie Marcus
Yeah, so a few different comments on that. There's definitely some back office consolidation work that we've done. We did that in Q4 of last year. I think about that in the context of. But Cooper Surgical still has a full team of people like working on that. So yes, there is some dis synergies if you will, but it's probably not as significant as you think. We don't have co located facilities. That's probably the biggest thing.
Meaning that the manufacturing and distribution of Cooper Vision products is separate from Cooper Surgical products. So from that perspective, that's a big one in terms of your ability to do something with a transition services agreement and everything else that comes along with it. If I look at a couple other things, cash flow, like free cash flow on a per revenue basis, per dollar revenue basis is higher at Cooper Surgical than it is CooperVision.
But I would say, I guess I would say the upside of future free cash flow is actually greater at CooperVision because our CapEx is just going to come down a lot. Like it's still a little elevated this quarter go maybe same. But I mean as you get to Q4, it's going to start coming down. It'll be down a decent amount year. So there's some upside coming from future free cash flow in CooperVision. You'll see some of the details when you look at the Q tomorrow.
Right. You'll see some of the improvements that we're really starting to see at Cooper Surgical on a GAAP basis. Like we don't have nearly as many non GAAP adjustments as we used to. And we're going to Try to keep those to a minimum so you'll see those improvements.
But I won't go too much into the operating margins because I think if there is a transaction, Robbie, like as you know, know, like we're rolling up our sleeves looking at things and we need to drill through those numbers and get you guys some real information, which we will.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Tax would be, I guess, a remain Cooper Vision tax would probably be fairly similar to what it is today.
Robbie Marcus
Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
Fred Fishbin (Equity Analyst)
Thank you. Next question from Fred Fishbin from KeyBanc Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Hey guys, good evening. Thank you for taking the questions. Just going to shift gears a little bit back to operating margin in the quarter, which was definitely a bright spot and was interested if you could just provide some color or directional split on how much of the improvement was really driven by some of the durable changes in cost structure that you're taking versus other factors like FX or favorable mix with lower sales in APAC CPI this quarter.
Thank you.
Brian Andrews (Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer)
I'll comment quickly. Certainly Brian knows numbers like the back of his hand. Cooper Surgical drove a decent amount of that operating margin upside just because of all the leverage that we're getting out of that from the consolidation. The back office stuff I was just talking to Robbie about. So I would say that the bigger side was there. You've got some certainly in corporate where we were able to leverage expenses here also.
That does not diminish vision, who's done a really nice job leveraging their P and L also. And then. Yeah, the FX is certainly a positive that Brian highlighted compared to. Right. The beginning of the year where FX is a nice positive to us in the back where it's a decent negative to us, it kind of flattens out for the year, but that's part of the swing. Does that help?
Fred Fishbin (Equity Analyst)
Yeah, no, no, that's. That's helpful. So. So it sounds like, you know, a combination of some of the underlying improvement and then maybe like split with some of the more. More, you know, temporary benefits like FX and product mix.
Correct. Yeah. All right. And then maybe just on a completely different topic on, you know, the MySite Japan launch, it did sound like momentum has picked up a little bit. I was wondering if you just had any new thoughts on the broader opportunity here around either the TAM or just overall contribution to the MySite revenue story over the next. Call it six quarters. Thank you very much again.
Chris Pasquale (Equity Analyst)
Yeah, the myopia control market, I've always been an optimist about that and it was progressing a little Slowly for a little while when we were basically the only company driving it. But now that you have spectacles out there, it is definitely accelerating. It's a really good market. Spectacles are doing well. You're seeing markets like China that have just exploded throughout Europe.
You're seeing markets, I mean, we have a joint venture on one of those. The numbers are just really strong and they continue to be strong and we continue to see really nice growth on the spectacle side of things. So I think that the myopia control market is going to be a big market at the end of the day. It really truly is. Like almost every kid gets, you know, braces right now.
Every kid who's got myopia should be wearing some form of myopia control product. So I feel good about where we're at. Japan is one of those markets where you have a lot of children that are myopic. This product's going to be fantastic for them.
So I mean, we're actually looking at that right now from an investment perspective because as that market picks up and it's doing better, we're challenging ourselves on how to invest and where to invest and where to be more aggressive to ensure that we're capitalizing on our position. I mean, we're the only contact lens company with an FDA approved product out there. So we're doing well. I think we're going to continue to do well.
I feel good about that market in the near term and the long term.
Next question will be from Chris Pasquale from Nestrom Research. Please go ahead.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Thanks, Al. I wanted to circle back to fertility. 10% growth this quarter. We talked about mid singles in the back half of the year. Is the delta there really a bolus of capital sales that you got this quarter that we should view as kind of one time in nature or are there other factors?
Chris Pasquale (Equity Analyst)
Yeah, I kind of touched on that a little bit on the script. It's a great question, right? Because I think in the back half of the year, when we look at Q2 and Q3 for fertility, it'll probably be somewhere in the mid single digits. So that delta that you were looking at was a combination of two things. One it was capital. The other one was when the airspace opened in the Middle East.
We talked about that some last quarter we had distributors there buy some product from us and buy in advance in case the airspace shut down again. So we actually kind of had a couple positives there that pushed us up to the 10%. So it was a great quarter. We did really well. Right. But I don't want to act like we're not back yet at throwing double digits. I think we did 14 out of 15 quarters at one stretch double digits.
We're not back there yet, but we're at least back to mid single digit growth in fertility.
Brian Andrews (Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer)
Okay. And then one quick one for Brian. Do you plan to seek refunds for prior tariff payments and when do you
expect to have clarity on whether you actually get those? Yes. So we're in process of filing all those refunds. I mean I mentioned in my prepared remarks, you know, we're expecting up to $15 million at this moment sitting here today. A lot of those have been submitted though we're submitting some more. So we actually, I think just got one refund recently, a small one. So that's not included in guidance.
So to the extent that we get some of those refunds in the third and fourth quarter, then that's going to be upside to guidance. Thanks.
Marco Espalad (Equity Analyst)
Last question from David Roman of Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi, good afternoon everyone and thanks for taking the question. This is Marco Espalad on for David Roman. You touched a little bit on this, but I was hoping that you could clarify as you think about retaining the earnings guidance with the top line reduction. Can you talk a little bit about the interplay between protecting the P and L and sustaining growth investments? Thanks.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Yeah, I mean, it's a good question. Right. And we look at that very consistently. We are investing in growth opportunities, so we're leveraging the P and L through all that work that we've done in back office and so forth. But we are continuing to invest in growth. We're launching products in different spots around the world and we're supporting that launch. That's one of the most important things to us.
Look at how strong we were in the Americas, how strong we were in Europe. We have to get going in Asia. Pac, we made a lot of moves. We're doing a lot of things there. So we are investing in growth at the same time. We obviously want to put up with good numbers and I guess I'd just say we got a lot going on right now. That's the other thing. There's a lot of activity in the company right now, no surprise.
So you've got some risk around disruption and other areas as we jump through hoops and do all the things that we're trying to do. So I think we're trying to balance all of that. And I think as Brian said, that guidance range is a good way to look at it and to me that was a prudent guidance range right now, given everything that's going on.
Marco Espalad (Equity Analyst)
Got it. Thank you.
Al White (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Great. Thank you, operator. And thank you, everyone, for being on the call today. I guess I'll just end by restating that which there's a lot going on right now. We're working super hard. We're making a lot of progress in a lot of areas. We look forward to continuing to make a lot of progress and to communicating that progress in the future. So with that, I thank everyone for the call and look forward to talking to you in the coming months.
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