Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH) Trading Down 6.9% After Earnings Miss

Guardant Health, Inc. (NASDAQ:GH)’s stock price traded down 6.9% during mid-day trading on Friday following a weaker than expected earnings announcement. The company traded as low as $43.60 and last traded at $44.12. 2,146,754 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 13% from the average session volume of 2,455,924 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.40.

The company reported ($0.90) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.75) by ($0.15). Guardant Health had a negative net margin of 59.05% and a negative return on equity of 19,157.20%. The business had revenue of $201.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $192.50 million.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on GH shares. Barclays assumed coverage on shares of Guardant Health in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $60.00 price target for the company. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Guardant Health from $45.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their target price on Guardant Health from $40.00 to $35.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Guardant Health from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating on shares of Guardant Health in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Eighteen research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Guardant Health

In other Guardant Health news, Director Musa Tariq sold 2,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $81,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,676 shares in the company, valued at $93,660. The trade was a 46.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 2,768 shares of company stock valued at $98,798 over the last 90 days. 5.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Guardant Health

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. GF Fund Management CO. LTD. purchased a new position in shares of Guardant Health during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $79,000. Twinbeech Capital LP acquired a new stake in Guardant Health in the fourth quarter valued at $367,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP boosted its stake in Guardant Health by 96.7% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,315,600 shares of the company’s stock valued at $70,742,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138,300 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its holdings in Guardant Health by 38.5% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,890,714 shares of the company’s stock worth $57,761,000 after acquiring an additional 525,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tema Etfs LLC bought a new stake in shares of Guardant Health in the 4th quarter worth about $1,103,000. 92.60% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Guardant Health Stock Performance

The business’s 50 day moving average price is $40.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $31.59. The firm has a market cap of $5.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.04 and a beta of 1.32.

About Guardant Health

Guardant Health, Inc, a precision oncology company, provides blood and tissue tests, data sets, and analytics in the United States and internationally. The company provides Guardant360; Guardant360 LDT; Guardant360 CDx Test; Guardant360 Response Test; Guardant360 TissueNext Test; GuardantINFINITY Test; GuardantConnect, an integrated software-based solution designed for clinical and biopharmaceutical customers to connect patients tested with assays with actionable alterations with potentially relevant clinical studies; GuardantOMNI Test for advanced stage cancer; and GuardantINFORM, an in-silico research platform for tumor evolution and treatment resistance across various biomarker-driven cancers.