Ray-Ban maker shares hits all-time high as investors bet on Meta AI glasses boom

Shares in Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica (ESLX.PA), opens new tab rose 14% to hit an all-time high on Friday, adding nearly $20 billion in market value as investor enthusiasm for its AI-powered Ray-Ban Meta (META.O), opens new tab glasses gathered momentum.

The Paris-listed group, founded by late Italian entrepreneur Leonardo Del Vecchio and a possible contender in the race to buy fashion group Armani, reported on Thursday third-quarter sales growth of 11.7% from a year ago to 6.9 billion euros ($8.1 billion).

The results beat expectations and marked the company’s best quarterly performance ever amid strong demand for wearable products such as the smart glasses it has been developing with Meta since before the pandemic.

Even though the smart glasses business has until now accounted for only a fraction of EssilorLuxottica’s total revenue, it has become a focal point for analysts and investors, as well as a catalyst for the company’s