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Activist Investor Unloads on Cooper Companies Over 'Growth at All Costs' Strategy

MarketDash Editorial Team
17 days ago
Browning West, which has invested over $500 million in Cooper Companies, released a blistering letter demanding board changes and strategic reforms, arguing weak oversight and poor capital allocation have squandered the potential of two market-leading businesses.

When an activist investor drops half a billion dollars into your stock and then writes you a scathing letter, you're probably having a rough week. That's the situation at The Cooper Companies (COO), where Browning West LP escalated its campaign for change on Monday with a detailed letter to the board and a freshly launched website urging other shareholders to demand sweeping reforms.

The core complaint? Cooper operates two genuinely impressive businesses but has somehow managed to underperform anyway, thanks to what Browning West characterizes as weak oversight, misaligned incentives, and a strategic focus that's roughly as sharp as a broken contact lens.

Here's what makes this particularly frustrating for investors: Cooper runs CooperVision, the world's largest contact lens business by wearer count, and CooperSurgical, which boasts the largest global fertility medical device portfolio. These aren't struggling niche players. They're market leaders positioned to benefit from long-term tailwinds like rising myopia rates and increasing infertility treatments.

And yet, Cooper has underperformed major equity benchmarks over the past one, three, and five years. Browning West laid out the grim details: revenue climbed 47% from 2019 to 2024, but non-GAAP earnings per share grew just 20%. Worse, free cash flow actually declined from $421 million to $288 million over the same period. The company's price-to-earnings ratio has collapsed to a decade-low multiple.

The activist firm pointed to operational underperformance at both divisions and what it considers failed attempts to create synergies between them. But the real kicker involves capital allocation. Cooper's incentive structure doesn't incorporate free cash flow or return on invested capital metrics, which Browning West says has encouraged a "growth at all costs" mentality. The result? The company poured roughly $4 billion into CooperSurgical over the past decade at a cumulative return on invested capital below 5%. That's not strategic investment; that's lighting money on fire in slow motion.

Browning West also took aim at the board itself, arguing it lacks essential medical device and vision care expertise. The firm said long-tenured leadership has presided over value-destructive decisions and that only a materially refreshed board can properly evaluate strategic alternatives, including potential restructuring and a review of CooperSurgical's future.

Price Action: COO stock was trading lower by 0.72% to $71.63 at last check Thursday.

Back to News

Activist Investor Unloads on Cooper Companies Over 'Growth at All Costs' Strategy

MarketDash Editorial Team
17 days ago
Browning West, which has invested over $500 million in Cooper Companies, released a blistering letter demanding board changes and strategic reforms, arguing weak oversight and poor capital allocation have squandered the potential of two market-leading businesses.

When an activist investor drops half a billion dollars into your stock and then writes you a scathing letter, you're probably having a rough week. That's the situation at The Cooper Companies (COO), where Browning West LP escalated its campaign for change on Monday with a detailed letter to the board and a freshly launched website urging other shareholders to demand sweeping reforms.

The core complaint? Cooper operates two genuinely impressive businesses but has somehow managed to underperform anyway, thanks to what Browning West characterizes as weak oversight, misaligned incentives, and a strategic focus that's roughly as sharp as a broken contact lens.

Here's what makes this particularly frustrating for investors: Cooper runs CooperVision, the world's largest contact lens business by wearer count, and CooperSurgical, which boasts the largest global fertility medical device portfolio. These aren't struggling niche players. They're market leaders positioned to benefit from long-term tailwinds like rising myopia rates and increasing infertility treatments.

And yet, Cooper has underperformed major equity benchmarks over the past one, three, and five years. Browning West laid out the grim details: revenue climbed 47% from 2019 to 2024, but non-GAAP earnings per share grew just 20%. Worse, free cash flow actually declined from $421 million to $288 million over the same period. The company's price-to-earnings ratio has collapsed to a decade-low multiple.

The activist firm pointed to operational underperformance at both divisions and what it considers failed attempts to create synergies between them. But the real kicker involves capital allocation. Cooper's incentive structure doesn't incorporate free cash flow or return on invested capital metrics, which Browning West says has encouraged a "growth at all costs" mentality. The result? The company poured roughly $4 billion into CooperSurgical over the past decade at a cumulative return on invested capital below 5%. That's not strategic investment; that's lighting money on fire in slow motion.

Browning West also took aim at the board itself, arguing it lacks essential medical device and vision care expertise. The firm said long-tenured leadership has presided over value-destructive decisions and that only a materially refreshed board can properly evaluate strategic alternatives, including potential restructuring and a review of CooperSurgical's future.

Price Action: COO stock was trading lower by 0.72% to $71.63 at last check Thursday.