Shares in EssilorLuxottica slid almost 4% on Wednesday after Deutsche Bank published a cautious near-term outlook for the eyewear group. The bank forecast that adjusted operating profit in the second quarter would be largely "flattish," and said consensus earnings projections should be lowered before it could become more upbeat on the stock.
Analyst Falko Friedrichs reiterated a Hold rating on the shares and nudged his price target down to €181 from €183.
Sales and margin outlook
Deutsche Bank expects second-quarter sales, on a constant currency basis, to grow by around 9.5%. The bank said this anticipated top-line expansion should be broadly uniform across EssilorLuxottica’s two operating segments. Despite that sales momentum, Friedrichs warned the company is cycling past a previous quarter that benefited from relatively easy year-over-year comparisons, and that more difficult comparables will appear in the second half of the year.
At the operating-profit level, the analyst projects adjusted EBIT to be approximately "flattish," which he quantifies as a margin near 16.9%. He attributes this constrained margin profile to material foreign exchange headwinds that are expected to offset robust revenue growth.
"Overall, we maintain our cautious stance on the investment case, noting that our sales and adjusted EPS estimates for 2026 remain 1% and 3% below consensus, respectively, with a larger gap in the outer years," Friedrichs wrote. "We believe consensus expectations need to be rebased before we can potentially turn more positive on the stock."
Product update: Meta collaboration
Separately, EssilorLuxottica and Meta Platforms unveiled a new line of AI smart glasses with a starting price of $299. Deutsche Bank and the market noted the new device is materially cheaper than the roughly $800 Ray-Ban Display glasses introduced last year. The new Meta Glasses were developed in partnership with Luxottica but, in a departure from prior collaborations, do not carry EssilorLuxottica brand names such as Ray-Ban or Oakley.
The devices are also the first Meta AI glasses to run on Muse Spark, the initial model from Meta’s Superintelligence Labs.
Market context and implications
Deutsche Bank’s combination of a Hold rating, a modest reduction in the price target, and a warning that consensus estimates should be lowered appears to have triggered the share pullback. The bank’s outlook ties together several moving parts: healthy constant-currency sales growth, the erosion of easy year-over-year comparisons, and significant currency-driven margin pressure.
These factors collectively informed the bank’s cautious stance and its call for a rebasing of market expectations before it would consider a more favorable view.