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Alcon Inc. is a leading global vision care company specializing in the development, manufacture, and marketing of surgical equipment, devices, pharmaceutical eye drops, and consumer vision care products to treat eye diseases and disorders. Originally founded in 1945 and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it operated as a subsidiary of Novartis for nine years before becoming an independent public company in April 2019. Alcon Inc. functions through two primary segments: Vision Care, which includes contact lenses, lens care solutions, and ocular health products under brands like Dailies, Total1, and Air Optix, capturing about one-fourth of the U.S. contact lens market; and Surgical, featuring intraocular lenses, ophthalmic surgical equipment, and consumables such as the Centurion phacoemulsification device for cataract surgeries and IOLs like PanOptix and Vivity. With approximately 25,599 employees, Alcon Inc. maintains one of the largest installed bases of eye surgical equipment worldwide, playing a pivotal role in the healthcare sector, particularly in medical instruments and supplies, by advancing eye health innovations and supporting ophthalmologists and consumers globally.
$70.26
$0.36 (-0.51%)
EOD Jul 17, 2026
13.08% operating margin is respectable but not wide. ROIC at 4.68%. Suggests the business covers its cost of capital, but doesn't point to a wide moat.
Revenue grew 4.9%, steady but not accelerating.
At 42x earnings, the current multiple leaves limited room for execution misses or growth deceleration.
42.3x earnings, 21.6x FCF. The market is pricing in years of above-average growth. If that thesis breaks, downside from multiple compression alone could be 30%+. This is a stock where you're paying for the future, not the present.
Based on TTM earnings · Diluted shares
Profitability & Returns
Revenue (TTM)
$10.63B
▲ +4.9% YoY
Net Income (TTM)
$819M
▼ -3.7% YoY
Op. Margin
11.13%
▼ -1.2pp YoY
ROIC
4.68%
▲ +0.3pp YoY
Cash Flow & Balance Sheet
FCF (TTM)
$1.59B
▲ +14.3% YoY
Op. Cash Flow (TTM)
$2.36B
▼ -4.4% YoY
Net Debt
N/A
Cash & Equiv.
N/A
3Y CAGR: +6.1%
3Y CAGR: +50.5%
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At a P/E of 42.3 and a price-to-free-cash-flow of 21.6, Alcon (ALC) trades below a two-stage DCF intrinsic value of about $162.96 per share, so at $70.26 the stock looks undervalued (131.9% below estimated intrinsic value). A high multiple is not the same as overvalued: fast-growing, high-quality businesses can deserve a premium. See the general approach in how to tell if a stock is overvalued.
On quality, Alcon scores 65/100 on Intrinsiqq's quality scorecard (a solid business on these measures), weighing growth, margins, returns on capital, share count, and balance-sheet strength. It currently yields about 0.5%; see dividend safety for coverage and history. All figures are computed from SEC filings; read the full methodology. This is analysis, not investment advice.
Intrinsiqq's two-stage DCF estimates an intrinsic value of about $162.96 per share for ALC, projecting its recent free cash flow forward with a growth rate that fades toward a long-run rate and discounting it back to today. Applying a 25% margin of safety gives a more conservative fair-value entry around $122.22. At today's $70.26, that puts the stock about 131.9% below estimated intrinsic value. The result is sensitive to the growth and discount-rate inputs, so it is best to run conservative, base and optimistic cases. You can adjust all of them yourself with the sliders on the DCF tab.
Alcon scores 65 out of 100 on Intrinsiqq's quality score, a weighted blend of 7 metrics each scored 0 to 100, which makes it a solid business on these measures. Recent fundamentals include a 11.1% operating margin and a 4.7% return on invested capital. The score weighs revenue and free-cash-flow growth, operating margins, return on invested capital, share-count change, and balance-sheet strength, all computed from SEC filings, not opinion. Because valuation only means something relative to quality, the full metric-by-metric breakdown is on the quality scorecard.
Yes, Alcon pays a regular dividend of about $0.34 per share per year (typically in quarterly installments), a yield of roughly 0.5% at the current price. That is a payout ratio of about 20.3% of earnings, so the dividend is amply covered by earnings. Alcon has grown the dividend at roughly 32.4% a year over the past few years. A low headline yield is not the same as a weak dividend: what matters is how well earnings and free cash flow cover the payout and whether it is growing, not the percentage alone. For ALC's full payout history, growth streak and dividend-safety score, see the dividends tab.
That depends on valuation and quality together, not either alone. ALC currently trades below its estimated intrinsic value and scores 65/100 on quality (solid). It also yields about 0.5%. A cheap price is only a bargain if the business is durable, and a premium can be justified by genuine quality, so the two questions, "is it cheap?" and "is it good?", only make sense side by side. Read the valuation against the quality scorecard, run the DCF on your own assumptions, and decide for yourself. This is analysis from SEC filings, not investment advice.