Summary
Fundamentally, Alcon looks attractive. The company is experiencing consistent growth and operates in attractive end markets. Further, it has an opportunity to improve margins. The company is particularly attractive in the current economic cycle given its defensive nature. The continuity of Alcon’s management team is also appealing (spin-offs with new management teams often stumble out of the gate). Unfortunately, the price of the stock reflects the strong fundamentals for Alcon. It’s trading at 29x 2019 earnings. Thus, I would not own the stock unless we saw a significant (~22%) pull back.
