Ray-Ban maker's shares jump as strong eyewear sales temper AI glasses worries

Oct 21 — Shares in EssilorLuxottica rose more than 11% ​on Wednesday after the Ray-Ban maker beat third-quarter revenue expectations, with resilient demand for its core ‌eyewear products outweighing signs of moderating growth in smart glasses.

The move is a ⁠sign of easing pressure ​on the world's largest eyewear ⁠company, whose stock has nearly halved in value ‌after reaching a ‌record market valuation of €149 billion ($167 billion) a year ago.

Analysts ⁠say the slump began as ⁠investors raised concerns over governance and the company's nascent smart glasses business, particularly around privacy and sales expectations.

EssilorLuxottica's shares were up 11.4% by 0712 GMT, leading gains on France's CAC 40 benchmark index and trading ‌at their highest price since August.

"The ​prospect of smart glasses disrupting traditional eyewear will likely stay as a sword of Damocles hanging over EssilorLuxottica," Bernstein analysts said in a note to investors.

With Alphabet's Google set to launch its Gemini AI glasses by the end of 2026, it "makes sense for EssilorLuxottica to ​espouse a conservative message" on the fourth quarter's expectations, they ‌added.

Third-quarter revenue at ‌the ⁠Franco-Italian company was €7.49 billion, beating the €7.36 billion expected by analysts.

But unlike previous quarters, sales of the smart glasses made with Meta slowed down compared with higher rates earlier in ‌the year, while ​the group's eyewear core business ‌was the main growth ⁠driver.

($1 = 0.8911 ​euros)

(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro; Editing by Jan Harvey and ​Milla Nissi-Prussak)

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