Eyecare specialist Bausch Health Companies (NYSE: BHC) wasn't a clear winner on the stock exchange Thursday, to put it charitably. After unveiling its latest earnings report it was met with a sell-off, as investors drove its share price down by over 7%. That was out of sync with the generally positive sentiment on equities that day, as the S&P 500 index posted a gain of 0.9%.

Although Bausch management put a positive spin on the company's first quarter, the earnings release featured a few numbers that just didn't look very pretty.

It earned revenue of $2.15 billion, and although this was up by 11% year over year, it matched the average estimate of analysts following the stock. The company managed to narrow its net loss based on generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to $64 million ($0.17 per share) from the first-quarter 2023 shortfall of $201 million, which was undoubtedly an accomplishment. Yet it wasn't anywhere near the $0.69 per-share profit those pundits were collectively modeling.

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Source Fool.com