Cooper Companies Inc (COO) stock analysis
Cooper Companies Inc (COO) clears 4 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 6 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 4 of 5 Lynch-style checks. At $61.65 it trades 2.2% below this site's neutral DCF value (a margin of safety of +2.2%). Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns +1.9% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does Cooper Companies do?
Cooper Companies makes contact lenses and women's health medical devices sold to eye care professionals and clinics.
Brands and businesses it owns
- CooperVision
- CooperSurgical
- Biofinity
What stands out about Cooper Companies?
- The share price implies 7.4% yearly growth. At $61.65, COO's free cash flow of $3.69 per share would have to grow 7.4% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for less growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
- Misses 2 of the 8 value filters. It fails Market Cap > $25B ($11.3B) and PEG Ratio < 1.5 (3.49); the other 4 pass and 2 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- Strongest against peers: debt / equity. At 0.31 (peer median 0.69) it ranks 7th of 34 among health care stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Weakest against peers: revenue growth. At 4.7% (peer median 8.6%) it ranks 30th of 34 among health care stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Insiders have been buying. 5 open-market purchases were reported in SEC Form 4 filings in the last 90 days, about $5.1 million in all. See the Insider Buying Tracker.
How has Cooper Companies' share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Cooper Companies undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) +2.2% Corroborated: an insider bought 5 times in the trailing 90 days (~$5.1M) - real, disclosed Form 4 buying near this price, not proof by itself.
- P/E vs. its own history 19.9x · near the cheap end Real range: 7.0x–53.5x over 5 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Buy · 3.50/5 22 analysts this month: 3 strong buy, 5 buy, 14 hold, 0 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub). Down from 3.83 last month.
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) 4.99 · Safe zone
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · all 5 checks clean Beneish M-score −2.49 · accruals −3.4% of assets · 199% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 1.7% of revenue · share count +0.2% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Oct 2025) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +1.9% net Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 0.0% + buybacks 2.6% − stock comp 0.6%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count rose 4%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) $13.92 per $1 of new profit · Capital-hungry · but only 8% return on capital Operating profit $385M → $641M, capital needed $4.6B → $8.2B, 2016–2025 (3-year averages); return on capital now 8% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 3.49 · Well above fair P/E 19.9× ÷ 5.7% a year of growth behind it. 367th lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 1 of 4 · misses capital-light, cash back, price Capital-light growth: not cleared (profit grew 1.7×, under 2×); Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: not cleared (+0.3% a year net); Fair price (PEG): not cleared (PEG 3.49, over 1.5). See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Value trap check Clear
- Munger's Inversion Check 0 flags
- Standing vs. sector peers 4 of 6 measures above the median Compared with the 33 other health care stocks this site tracks: 3 in the top third, 2 in the bottom third.
How does Cooper Companies compare with its peers?
4 of 6 measures sit above the median of the 33 other health care stocks tracked here, 3 in the top third and 2 in the bottom third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 24.6× 19.9× ✓9th of 32
- Free-cash-flow yieldhigher is cheaper · peer median 5.5% 6.0% –14th of 34
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 15% 7% ✕29th of 34
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 9.3% 13.5% ✓11th of 34
- Revenue growthhigher is better, year on year · peer median 8.6% 4.7% ✕30th of 34
- Debt / equitylower is safer · peer median 0.69 0.31 ✓7th of 34
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and COO doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: COO and has kept that profitability up over five years, not just this year, carries a conservative amount of debt relative to equity, has grown earnings per share at a solid clip over five years, earns many times its interest expense, so debt service isn't a worry, is trading below what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth - his own "price is what you pay, value is what you get" test, not a fixed multiple ceiling, and trades at a reasonable multiple of owner earnings, his own term for the real cash a business could pay out. Where it comes up short: COO isn't clearing the return-on-equity bar he'd want to see right now, and runs thinner pretax margins than he'd like to see.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✕
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✓
- Pretax margin > 15% ✕
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✓
- Interest coverage > 5x ✓
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✓
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✓
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2025
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and COO falls short of his bar. In its favor: COO is growing earnings 20-50% a year, his classic fast-grower zone, isn't leaning on debt to fund that growth, isn't asking too much even by a fast grower's usual richer multiple, and is generating real cash to back up a fast grower's higher price tag. Where it comes up short: COO doesn't clear the tighter PEG bar a fast grower needs to justify its pace.
- PEG < 1 (stricter for fast growers) ✕
- EPS growth 20%-50% ✓
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✓
- P/E < 40 ✓
- Price/FCF < 40 ✓
- Bonus: insiders buying (90d) 5 buys, ~$5.1M
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does Cooper Companies pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $11.3B
- Trailing P/E < 25 19.86
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 3.49
- Price/Book < 8 1.36
- Price/Sales < 7 2.67
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% +355.3%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is Cooper Companies' margin of safety?
History tracking starts this week - check back in a future week to see how this has moved.
Where is Cooper Companies in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Cooper Companies?
8,331,649 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with Cooper Companies? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case +42%
- Short interest under 5% of float 4.4%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 4/6 passed
- Price run-up backed by value, not just momentum +15% off 52wk low
- Debt/equity stable since 2016 0.49 → 0.30
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Cooper Companies shareholders gained per year?
Earnings growth per share plus dividend.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from COO's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do Cooper Companies' 10-year financials show?
From COO's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about Cooper Companies
What kind of company is Cooper Companies?
Cooper Companies makes contact lenses and women's health medical devices sold to eye care professionals and clinics. Brands and businesses it owns include CooperVision, CooperSurgical and Biofinity. This site groups it with Health Care stocks.
Is Cooper Companies trading above or below its DCF value?
At $61.65, COO trades 2.2% below this site's neutral DCF value of $63.03 per share, a margin of safety of +2.2%. That DCF projects free cash flow for 10 years, with growth starting at 8% and fading to 2.5%, discounted at 10%; it is one set of assumptions, not a forecast. Test your own in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does Cooper Companies pass?
COO passes 4 of 8. It passes Trailing P/E < 25 (19.86), Price/Book < 8 (1.36), Price/Sales < 7 (2.67) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (+355.3%). It misses Market Cap > $25B ($11.3B) and PEG Ratio < 1.5 (3.49). vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
What growth is Cooper Companies' share price pricing in?
At $61.65, COO's free cash flow of $3.69 per share would have to grow 7.4% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for less growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
Does Cooper Companies pass the Buffett-style and Lynch-style checklists?
On this site's Buffett-style checklist COO clears 6 of 8 checks and leans no; it misses ROE (TTM) > 11% and Pretax margin > 15%. On the Lynch-style checklist it clears 4 of 5 and leans no, with Fast Grower as its Lynch category; it misses PEG < 1 (stricter for fast growers). These are this site's own rules written in the style of each investor, not their personal views; the rules are in the Editorial Standards.
Are Cooper Companies's insiders buying its shares?
Yes: 5 open-market insider purchases of Cooper Companies shares, worth about $5.1 million in total, were reported in SEC Form 4 filings in the 90 days up to this page's last update. Only open-market purchases count here, not option exercises or stock awards. See the Insider Buying Tracker.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Cooper Companies's 10-K annual report for the year ended Oct 31, 2025, filed Dec 5, 2025 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this Cooper Companies Inc analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Cooper Companies Inc (COO) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.