Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Issues Earnings Results

Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) announced its earnings results on Thursday. The company reported ($0.42) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.76) by $0.34, FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $334.98 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $314.23 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.44) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 44.3% compared to the same quarter last year.

Here are the key takeaways from Guardant Health’s conference call:

• Q2 revenue rose 44% year over year to $335 million, with broad-based growth across oncology, biopharma and data, and screening. Oncology testing volume increased 63% to approximately 104,000 tests, while Reveal volume more than doubled.
• Shield revenue increased to $53 million from $15 million a year earlier on approximately 66,000 tests. Inclusion in American Cancer Society guidelines and UnitedHealthcare coverage beginning August 1 expanded coverage to an estimated 70 million lives, or roughly 60% of the U.S. addressable market.
• The company raised 2026 revenue guidance to $1.34 billion-$1.36 billion, including Shield revenue of $218 million-$230 million and 270,000-285,000 Shield tests. Management also reaffirmed its goal of company-wide cash-flow breakeven by the end of 2027.
• Guardant received FDA approval for Guardant360 Liquid CDx and a higher-throughput, lower-cost Shield workflow. Guardant expects Shield cost per test to fall roughly 15% by the end of 2026 from approximately $410, with a longer-term target of $200 by 2028.
• The company is increasing investment to expand Shield laboratory capacity and commercial infrastructure, raising expected 2026 operating expenses to $1.08 billion-$1.10 billion and full-year free-cash-flow burn to $195 million-$205 million. Management said additional commercial payer wins are not included in current guidance, and reimbursement timing for Reveal remains uncertain.

Guardant Health Trading Up 5.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:GH traded up $8.28 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $152.35. 2,709,421 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,309,924. The stock has a market cap of $20.20 billion, a P/E ratio of -44.94 and a beta of 1.59. Guardant Health has a twelve month low of $40.35 and a twelve month high of $174.08. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $141.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $112.74.

Insider Activity at Guardant Health

In other news, CEO Helmy Eltoukhy sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.30, for a total value of $12,630,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,012,919 shares in the company, valued at $254,231,669.70. This represents a 4.73% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Meghan V. Joyce sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.98, for a total value of $1,269,800.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 11,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,420,017.34. The trade was a 47.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 708,565 shares of company stock valued at $90,556,597 in the last quarter. 5.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the 4th quarter worth $235,000. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Guardant Health during the fourth quarter worth about $231,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Guardant Health by 28.2% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 799 shares in the last quarter. Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Guardant Health during the 4th quarter worth about $215,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in Guardant Health by 46.5% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,606 shares of the company’s stock worth $162,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. 92.60% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GH has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $135.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a report on Friday, July 17th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Guardant Health from $150.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Guardant Health from $120.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Guardant Health from $135.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-three have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Guardant Health presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $160.04.

Guardant Health Company Profile

Guardant Health, Inc is a precision oncology company specializing in blood-based cancer diagnostics. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Redwood City, California, the company develops non-invasive tests that use circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to profile genomic alterations in patients with solid tumors. Guardant Health’s mission is to advance cancer care by providing actionable data to clinicians, pharmaceutical partners and researchers worldwide.

The company’s flagship product, Guardant360, is a next-generation sequencing (NGS) assay designed to detect mutations, copy number variations and select fusions in more than 70 cancer-related genes.