EssilorLuxottica Chief Executive Francesco Milleri told attendees at the company’s annual general meeting that the Franco-Italian eyewear group’s share price will regain the value lost since a November peak, when the stock reached a record high. The shares have fallen by more than 40% from that high, Milleri said.
At the meeting, Milleri pointed to a series of external and strategic factors that have weighed on the stock. He cited U.S. tariffs, weakness in the dollar, the widening of military conflicts and intensifying competition in the smart eyeglasses category. The CEO also identified the company’s strategic move into medtech as an element that, while central to the firm’s long-term plan, has contributed to near-term pressure on the share price.
On the limits of EssilorLuxottica’s traditional market positioning, Milleri said:
"We were too big to remain framed in this small market,"
He framed the push into medtech as a deliberate repositioning beyond the conventional spectacle frames and lenses business and said that the medtech transformation will be a key support for the stock once that transition is complete.
Milleri referred back to the November market enthusiasm that pushed the shares to their record. That rally was driven in part by investor interest in the company’s AI-enabled Ray-Ban Meta (NASDAQ:META) smart glasses. Since that peak, investor sentiment has shifted as market participants have raised concerns that emerging competition in the smart eyewear segment could erode EssilorLuxottica’s first-mover advantages.
On those competitive worries, Milleri struck a cautious tone. He said that while several large firms have made product announcements that created noise in the market, EssilorLuxottica has not observed actual rival products available to consumers that directly challenge its offerings. In his words:
"a few big players have made product announcements generating buzz, but we haven’t seen any real competing products on the market so far."
The CEO also reiterated the history of the company’s collaboration with Meta Platforms, noting that the two firms have worked together since 2019 to develop successive generations of Ray-Ban-branded smart glasses. Those devices incorporate cameras, audio and artificial intelligence capabilities as part of their feature set.
Summing up the company’s stance on restoring shareholder value, Milleri said the group is pushing to reclaim the market position it believes it deserves but cautioned that the process will take time. He said:
"We are really pushing to go back to the position that we deserve, but at the same time, it will take some time to achieve that,"
The remarks provide a direct assessment from the chief executive of the forces that have weighed on EssilorLuxottica’s shares and an explicit link between the firm’s strategic pivot and its expectation for future share-price recovery.