STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ:STAA)

My most favourite stock for the next 20 years!

Staar Surgical sells the only foldable, minimally invasive implant lenses for people with myopia, who do not prefer glasses or contact lenses.
Adoptation is of Staar's lenses by surgeons and the public, has been steady but slow. This is partly due to regulatory processes and partly due to alternatives which have been around for much longer. Obviously glasses and contact lenses, but also the alternative of laser surgical procedures. In fact, Staar is not really competing with glasses and contact lenses, but is increasingly succesful as an alternative to lasering. Medical research shows favorable results for Staars implants when compared to laser procedures and Staar's market share has been increasing for some time. Outside the US that is. Sales in the US are still relatively small, since regulatory approvals in the US are still pending for an important line of its products. In other major markets, such as Japan, China and Europe, Staar's products are well received and revenue is growing fast there. This alone makes Staar a good company to invest in, but it appears to be just a matter of time before the US market will fully open up, providing even more opportunity for growth.

Estimate for the number of people with mypia globally is 2.6 billion in 2020. This is expected to rise to 3.5 billion people in 2030. Knowing that Staar possesses patents on its implant lenses, the company is optimally positioned to take full benefit of this enormous and still growing markter. Revnue growth rates of between 20 to 30% have been normal for this company for some years, with the exception of the (Covid) year 2020. It wouldn't surprise me if they could sustain such growth rates for the next 10, 20 or even 30 years. 30 years of such growth sounds ridiculous. It would imply that they need to sell about 3 to 4 million of implant lenses per year by 2050. This would equate to 0,1% of all people with myopia at that time globally. Not at all impossible, knowing that its proposition is medically superior to its competitors with Laser technology and knowing that a new, innovative technology, will take a tremendously long time to displace a settled leader.

All of the above makes Staar a stock to buy and never sell. Or at least not in the coming 20 years.