PLEASANTON, Calif.—The Cooper Companies (NYSE: COO) on Thursday reported that sales in the fourth quarter rose 16 percent to $651.5 million, while fiscal 2018 sales increased 18 percent to $2.53 billion. The reporting periods ended Oct. 31, according to the announcement. “This was a year of record revenues, non-GAAP [earnings per share] and free cash flow,” Cooper president and chief executive officer Albert White said in the announcement. “I am proud of our team for everything we accomplished and believe our growth strategies are working and our momentum remains strong.”

Cooper noted that its overall revenue in the fourth quarter increased 9 percent on a pro forma basis (defined as constant currency, including acquisitions and excluding carrier screening and NIPT in both periods). The gross-margin rate was 66 percent compared with 63 percent in last year’s fourth quarter, while the company’s operating margin of 19 percent in the quarter was flat with last year’s fourth quarter.

Within the CooperVision (CVI) segment, revenue rose 9 percent to $480.6 million in the quarter. On a pro forma basis, the increase was 10 percent, according to the announcement.

On a category basis for the fourth quarter, sales in the toric category rose 10 percent to $149.2 million. Toric lenses represented 30 percent of CVI revenue in the fourth quarter, according to the earnings announcement on Thursday.
Sales of single-use sphere contact lenses rose 19 percent to $141.7 million, and sales of non single-use sphere lenses rose 2 percent to $141.9 million. The two categories represented 29 percent and 30 percent, respectively, of CVI’s total revenue in the period.

Sales of multifocal lenses (which represented 10 percent of CVI’s revenue) rose 6 percent to $47.8 million in the fourth quarter.

Looking ahead to fiscal year 2019, Cooper provided the following initial guidance to investors: 2019 total revenue in a range of $2.6 billion to $2.66 billion, with CVI revenue in a range of $1.94 billion to $1.98 billion next year.