7 Best Sunglasses Stocks to Invest in 2017

7. Luxottica Group SpA (ADR) (OTCMKTS:LUXTY)

Luxottica Group S.p.A. (LUX) comes last in our list of 7 best sunglasses stocks to invest in 2017 mainly because of a bearish hedge fund sentiment, but keep in mind that it is the world’s largest eyewear company which manufactures sunglasses for almost all the major brands available in the market. The Milan-based company, which was founded in 1961, is behind Ray-Ban, the household name in the sunglasses industry, having over 5% market share of the eyewear market. Luxottica acquired Ray-Ban’s parent company Bausch & Lomb’s eyewear brands in 1999 for $640 million, and turned it around drastically. In 2014, Ray-Ban accounted for a whopping 27% of Luxottica sales. The same year, the company’s CEO Andrea Guerra claimed in an interview that over half a billion people in the world wore sunglasses made by Luxottica. The company is swiftly crafting a monopoly in the $28 billion eyewear industry. In January, France-based ophthalmic lenses company Essilor agreed to be merged with Luxottica in a $49 billion deal. The new company, EssilorLuxottica, will have 140,000 employees and sales in more than 150 countries. EssilorLuxottica’s total worth is estimated at €46.3 billion. With practically no competitor in sight, the stock of the new company is set to soar in the coming months. A total of 5 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey are bullish on Luxottica Group S.p.A. (LUX), as of the end of the first quarter of 2017. The total value of stakes owned by these funds is $50.27 million.

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