Could You Have Held Glaukos Stock Through Its Falls?
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Glaukos (GKOS) stock turned $10,000 into $74,262 over the ten years to November 12, 2026, before dividends. The same money in the S&P 500 became $36,190. In hindsight, holding Glaukos looks easy, but the stock gave its holders plenty of reasons to sell. How many times do you think Glaukos stock fell 20% or more along the way?
How Often Did Glaukos Stock Fall?
It happened six times in those ten years. Four of those declines exceeded 30%, and each of those four ultimately passed 50%. Here is every drop alongside the S&P 500 over the same dates.
| High | Low | Glaukos stock | S&P 500, same dates | Back above the old high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2017 | Nov 2017 | -53.1% | 10.1% | Aug 2018 |
| Aug 2018 | Jan 2019 | -25.8% | -15.6% | Feb 2019 |
| Mar 2019 | Jun 2019 | -21.0% | -3.9% | Jul 2019 |
| Aug 2019 | Mar 2020 | -69.6% | -22.0% | Jan 2021 |
| Apr 2021 | May 2022 | -64.3% | -5.9% | Apr 2024 |
| Jan 2025 | Oct 2025 | -53.7% | 11.0% | Jul 2026 |
Falls of 20% or more from a closing high, Nov 2016 to Nov 2026. Split-adjusted closing prices, dividends excluded.
The deepest drop ran from August 2019 to March 2020, when the stock fell 69.6% while the S&P 500 lost 22.0%. From that low, holders waited another 9.8 months, until January 2021, before the stock closed above its old high. The longest wait came later. After its April 2021 high, Glaukos did not close above that level again until April 2024, 35.3 months later. Measured the same way as the 2020 wait, from its May 2022 low, that took 22.9 months.
What Did Holding Glaukos Through A Fall Feel Like?
Consider the most recent slide. It began in January 2025, and the stock fell over the next 9.0 months until it stood 53.7% below its high in October 2025, while the S&P 500 rose 11.0% over the same dates. Shareholders watched the stock sink through most of a year when the broader market went up.
Then the wait began. It took another 9.1 months, until July 2026, for Glaukos to close above that January high. Every one of these declines ended, though nobody holding the stock in the middle of a drop knew that it would.
Was Something Wrong With Glaukos’s Business?
There was nothing wrong with its sales. Glaukos makes eye treatments, and its Glaucoma business brought in 83.0% of revenue in fiscal 2025. Its smaller Corneal Health business now sells Epioxa, a therapy for the eye disease keratoconus.
During the deepest drop, Glaukos’s sales over the latest twelve months were 12.5% higher at the low than at the high. Its operating loss grew, however, from 5.2% of sales to 19.6%. In the 2025 decline, sales rose 22.5%, and the operating loss narrowed from 28.2% of sales to 18.8%.
The company sold more in both downturns, not less. Glaukos lost money through both periods, yet nothing in its sales broke.
What Selling Glaukos Stock Would Have Cost
Glaukos stock is up 863.7% since its March 2020 low. Anyone who sold there missed the entire gain. On November 12, 2026, the stock finished 0.46% below its highest close of the past ten years, which was set the day before.
The six falls were what the ten-year gain cost: a holder had to sit through each of them to collect it. The next time Glaukos stock falls hard, the figure to check is revenue in the quarterly report that follows, and whether it is still growing as it was through the deepest fall and the latest one. That test has limits: in the twelve months to December 2020, sales fell 5.1%, and the stock still regained its August 2019 high in January 2021.
Not Sure Glaukos Is Worth It At This Price?
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