GKOS just delivered one of its cleanest quarters in recent memory — and the Street rewarded it immediately.
Glaukos reported Q1 2026 results after the close on April 29. Adjusted EPS came in at $(0.18), sharply ahead of the $(0.27) consensus. Sales of $150.6M crushed the $136.9M estimate by nearly 10%. Management lifted full-year revenue guidance from $600M–$620M to $620M–$635M, comfortably above the prior Street estimate of $613.5M. The stock closed Wednesday at $116.96, down 2.2% on the day — a subdued reaction that likely reflects the broader market backdrop rather than any skepticism about the print itself. The next earnings event is pencilled in for May 28.
The analyst response was swift and unanimous. Wells Fargo, Needham, and BTIG all raised price targets this morning, maintaining Overweight and Buy ratings across the board. Wells Fargo lifted its target from $135 to $138. Needham moved from $127 to $136. BTIG went to $141 from $131. The mean consensus target now sits at $145.50, implying roughly 24% upside from current levels — a gap that has been widening as targets chase the stock higher. The direction of travel is clear: no analyst on record is cutting, and the recent changes cluster tightly around the idea that the revenue ramp is ahead of schedule. The bear case centres on near-term EPS pressure — adjusted losses are still widening — and competition risk in a reimbursement-sensitive market. But the bulls appear to be winning the argument on top-line execution.
Options positioning tells a very different story from the earnings enthusiasm. The put/call ratio collapsed to 0.34 on April 29, down from readings consistently above 12.0x throughout most of April — a near two-and-a-half standard-deviation swing below the 20-day mean of 8.7. That dramatic shift from heavily put-weighted to call-dominated suggests the options market flipped sharply bullish into and immediately after the print, consistent with relief-driven call buying after the beat. The 52-week PCR range runs from 0.16 to 13.4, so the current reading is close to the bullish extreme of the past year. Short interest, by contrast, has been building quietly. It rose 18.4% over the past month to reach 5.6% of free float — a meaningful climb but still far from extreme. The lending market remains well-supplied: borrow availability is ample and the cost to borrow eased to 0.39% this week, down roughly 14% from seven days prior despite the month-on-month climb of 33%.
Insider activity warrants a note. On April 2, CEO Thomas Burns sold shares worth approximately $1.09M in a single day, with President/COO Joseph Gilliam and CFO Alex Thurman also selling. A further cluster of CLO-level sales followed on April 10. The 90-day net figure runs to roughly $6.1M in outflows across the C-suite. These disposals came when the stock was trading around $109–$117 — below today's levels — and many appear to follow pre-scheduled plan structures, though the timing ahead of a strong earnings print is worth flagging. PRIMECAP added 1.1M shares through January, and Janus Henderson built a 1.95M-share position. Goldman Sachs Asset Management added 836K shares through Q1. BlackRock remains the largest holder at 15.7% of shares, with Vanguard at 10.3%.
The EPS surprise factor score ranks in the 99th percentile — the company has a consistent history of beating estimates. The short score has edged higher all week, reaching 42.1 on April 29 from 41.6 a week prior, but remains firmly in the middle of the range rather than signalling any acute squeeze dynamic. Closest correlated peers LIVN and ICUI both had rough weeks, falling 9.6% and 9.4% respectively. COO dropped 8.3%. Against that peer backdrop, GKOS's 3.9% weekly dip looks comparatively contained, and the post-earnings analyst cluster suggests the Street views the quarterly print as a clear positive step.
What to watch from here: whether the stock can close the gap between the current $117 handle and the $136–$141 range where the freshest analyst targets now sit, and whether the insider selling pattern continues as the stock trades into new territory following the guidance raise.
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