Wall Street Breakfast Podcast: STAAR Prelims Signal Upside

Listen below or on the go via Apple Podcasts and Spotify

STAAR Surgical (STAA) announces preliminary net sales for first quarter 2026. (00:14) Disney (DIS) plans 1,000 job cuts in marketing overhaul under new CEO Josh D’Amaro. (01:15) Cheap semaglutide copies in India challenge Novo Nordisk, cut Eli Lilly’s lead: report. (02:07)

This is an abridged transcript.

STAAR Surgical Company (STAA) is on our biggest movers list ahead of market open.

STAA is up 21% in premarket action.

On Wednesday STAAR said that it expects first-quarter net sales to exceed $90 million, more than double from $42.6 million a year earlier.

The company said China accounted for the majority of the increase, while the Americas posted continued double-digit growth.

STAAR added that improved sales and a lower cost structure are expected to lead to a significant improvement in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter.

STAAR noted that first-quarter 2025 sales were impacted by minimal shipments to China as distributors reduced excess inventory, which it said has now returned to targeted levels.

Consensus revenue for Q1 is $67.59M.

STAAR said the figures are preliminary and unaudited, with full results to be reported in early May.

Disney (DIS) is preparing to eliminate approximately 1,000 positions.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, citing sources, this is happening in the coming weeks as new CEO Josh D’Amaro begins a strategic reorganization.

The workforce reductions, represents less than 1% of Disney’s approximately 231,000 global staff. The report added, citing people familiar with the matter, it will primarily target the company’s marketing department.

It also said the workforce reduction is a central component of ‘Project Imagine,’ a strategic initiative launched in January under Disney’s newly appointed chief marketing officer, Asad Ayaz.

The program seeks to consolidate promotional operations across film, TV, and streaming to address narrowing profit margins and a volatile theatrical market.

The surge of low-cost versions of Novo Nordisk A/S’s (NVO) blockbuster drug semaglutide in India is transforming the nation’s rapidly expanding obesity market, eroding Eli Lilly & Co.’s (LLY) early advantage and providing the first real measure of how Novo might perform as its patents expire globally.

Within days of dozens of generics hitting the Indian market, semaglutide’s share in the country’s GLP-1 segment jumped to 33% in March from 25% a month earlier, according to researcher Pharmarack, Bloomberg reported.

That gain came at the expense of tirzepatide – the active ingredient in Lilly’s Mounjaro – whose share fell to 64% from 71%, Pharmarack said.

It also offers an early sign of the rush to generics Lilly will face globally as semaglutide approaches patent cliffs elsewhere. The price war and surge in demand are being closely watched as patents for the blockbuster treatment expire in major emerging markets this year, with India a key test case for how quickly generics can erode a branded drug’s dominance.

Though Mounjaro still dominates the market in India, it’s taken a “major hit” following the launch of semaglutide copies, she said.

What’s Trending on Seeking Alpha

OpenAI plans retail IPO share allocation, CFO says

Bessent flags urgency on crypto bill amid regulatory gaps

Meta’s Muse Spark trails OpenAI, Google, Anthropic in early benchmarks: report

Catalyst watch:

• Dow (DOW) will hold its annual meeting. Shareholders will vote on new directors, a stock incentive plan amendment, and choosing the frequency of future say-on-pay votes.

• Home Depot (HD) CFO Richard McPhail will present at the J.P. Morgan Retail Round Up Forum.

• Walmart (WMT) CFO John Rainey will present at the J.P. Morgan Retail Round Up Forum.

Stock index futures are lower before the opening bell as hopes of a resolution to the U.S.-Iran conflict waned following warnings from President Trump of a major escalation.

Crude oil is up 3.2% at $97. Bitcoin is up 0.5% at $71,000 and Gold is up 0.1% at $4,728.

The FTSE 100 is down 0.25% and the DAX is down 1%.

The biggest movers for the day premarket: Applied Digital (APLD) -5% – Shares slipped even as the company reported a blowout 139% Y/Y revenue surge to $126.6M, fueled by its fully operational 100 MW liquid-cooled AI data center. However, the bottom line was weighed down by a $100.9M net loss ($0.36 per share) largely linked to its cloud services spin-off.

Economic calendar: