Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Exact Sciences Corporation (NASDAQ:EXAS)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $86.18, but opened at $101.63. Exact Sciences shares last traded at $101.3350, with a volume of 30,745,028 shares changing hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on EXAS. Zacks Research raised shares of Exact Sciences from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Robert W. Baird set a $105.00 price target on Exact Sciences in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Exact Sciences from $61.00 to $53.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 7th. BTIG Research downgraded Exact Sciences from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Exact Sciences from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Exact Sciences presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.38.

Exact Sciences Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 2.56 and a current ratio of 2.89. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $62.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.44. The company has a market capitalization of $19.12 billion, a PE ratio of -18.58, a P/E/G ratio of 5.56 and a beta of 1.34.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) last issued its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The medical research company reported $0.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $850.74 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $810.42 million. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 1.75% and a negative net margin of 34.19%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.21) EPS. Exact Sciences has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Exact Sciences Corporation will post -0.58 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Exact Sciences

In related news, Director James Edward Doyle sold 2,000 shares of Exact Sciences stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $120,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 57,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,477,720. This trade represents a 3.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Brian Baranick sold 2,858 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.08, for a total transaction of $200,288.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 22,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,567,549.44. This trade represents a 11.33% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 9,858 shares of company stock valued at $695,289. Company insiders own 1.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Exact Sciences by 75.1% during the 1st quarter. National Pension Service now owns 681 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the last quarter. SVB Wealth LLC bought a new position in Exact Sciences in the first quarter worth about $30,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of Exact Sciences by 951.8% during the second quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 589 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 533 shares during the last quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Exact Sciences by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 542 shares of the medical research company’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Country Trust Bank purchased a new position in shares of Exact Sciences in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. 88.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Exact Sciences Company Profile

Exact Sciences Corporation provides cancer screening and diagnostic test products in the United States and internationally. The company offers Cologuard, a non-invasive stool-based DNA screening test to detect DNA and hemoglobin biomarkers associated with colorectal cancer and pre-cancer. It also provides Oncotype DX Breast Recurrence Score Test; Oncotype DX Breast DCIS Score Test; Oncotype DX Colon Recurrence Score Test; OncoExTra Test for tumor profiling for patients with advanced, metastatic, refractory, relapsed, or recurrent cancer; and Covid-19 testing services.