Guardant Health Inc
🔔 Watch stock
Assessment
Our Rating
A journalistic assessment by our editorial team at the time of the deep dive — it rates the company, not the entry point. Not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell.
We found at least one documented issue that threatens the company itself — regardless of how the stock is currently valued.
Why this colour
Red is not for the price and not for the losses alone, but for two documented findings about substance. First, equity is used up: the balance sheet as of March 31, 2026 heads the section "Stockholders' Deficit" and shows negative $181.1 million, on an accumulated deficit of $3.1 billion and operating cash outflow in every year since inception. Second, 27 percent of quarterly revenue hangs on a single payer whose billing has been the subject of a False Claims Act investigation since April 22, 2026 — with no quantifiable exposure and no accrual. Plenty stands on the other side: a regulatory head start, 48 percent growth, a 65 percent gross margin, $1.1 billion of liquidity and no going concern warning. That does not make the company bad — it makes it a company whose substance currently depends on a reimbursement decision and a government file. In case of doubt the more cautious level applies. The decision is yours.
What the thesis turns on
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Guardant Health is the halo trap in its purest form: the medicine is unarguably good, the business behind it is not automatically good too. What is documented is growth that is accelerating — up 48 percent to $301.7 million in the first quarter of 2026, with screening up 633 percent — alongside a 65 percent gross margin and $1,102.8 million in cash and securities. Equally documented: no profit since inception, an accumulated deficit of $3.1 billion, equity of negative $181.1 million and a single payer behind 27 percent of revenue — whose billing has been under examination by a U.S. Attorney since April 22, 2026. The market pays roughly 18 times a year of revenue for that. Not investment advice.
Business model and market position
According to the Form 10-Q as of March 31, 2026, Shield is the first blood test approved by the FDA for primary colorectal cancer screening and the first to meet Medicare's coverage requirements; it also appears in the NCCN screening guidelines. Guardant360 CDx was the first comprehensive liquid biopsy approved by the FDA for tumor mutation profiling. Those regulatory head starts are documented and cannot be copied quickly.
Growth
Revenue rose from $373.7 million in 2021 to $982.0 million in 2025 and climbed 48 percent to $301.7 million in the first quarter of 2026. Screening grew 633 percent in that quarter to $41.6 million on roughly 44,000 tests versus roughly 9,000 a year earlier; oncology added 36 percent to $205.0 million. The pace increased in 2026 rather than fading.
Earnings power
There has been no profitable year since the 2018 IPO: a net loss of $405.7 million in 2021, $654.6 million in 2022, $479.4 million in 2023, $436.4 million in 2024, $416.3 million in 2025 and $112.1 million in the first quarter of 2026. In that quarter sales and marketing expense grew 62 percent to $169.1 million, faster than revenue at 48 percent; gross profit of $196.7 million faced operating costs of $318.1 million.
Balance sheet and funding
Equity is used up: negative $181.1 million as of March 31, 2026 against positive $645.0 million at the end of 2021, with an accumulated deficit of $3.1 billion. Against that sit $1,102.8 million of cash and short-term securities and $1,493.2 million principal of convertible notes, the first tranche of which — $490.7 million — matures on November 15, 2027. There is expressly no going concern warning; the most recent funding came from an equity offering at $90.00 per share in November 2025.
Concentration and legal exposure
A single payer accounted for 27 percent of revenue in the first quarter of 2026 (28 percent in 2025, 31 percent in 2023). On April 22, 2026 Guardant received a civil investigative demand from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida under the False Claims Act, aimed at billing to federally funded health insurance programs. Neither an amount nor an accrual is disclosed; the company says it cannot predict the outcome.
Dilution
The quarterly report shows 28.466 million potential share equivalents as of March 31, 2026, of which 16.465 million come from the convertible notes — roughly 22 percent of the 131.273 million weighted-average shares. On top of that, 32,075,509 shares are reserved for employee programs, and an at-the-market program of up to $400.0 million stands ready, from which no share had been sold by that date. Transparently reported, but material in size.
Worth Noting
Guardant Health landed on the research list through our in-house stock scanner: rank 21 of 28 in the list "Richard Moglen: 1 Week Top Performers" (U.S. selection) with a relative strength rating of 92, as of July 25, 2026. That list is recomputed daily; it measures price momentum over four trading days, liquidity and relative strength — demand for the shares, not quality of the company.
Every figure carries its own reporting date: annual figures from the Form 10-K for 2025 (filed February 19, 2026), quarterly figures from the Form 10-Q as of March 31, 2026 (filed May 7, 2026). Valuation metrics as of July 26, 2026 based on the closing price of July 24, 2026 — meant to be evergreen, with no daily price used as a buy argument. The status of the legal proceedings is that of the quarterly report of May 7, 2026; no Form 8-K reporting an outcome was filed between then and July 26, 2026.
Easy to confuse: the ticker GH belongs to Guardant Health, Inc. of Palo Alto (CIK 0001576280), not to the same letters on other exchanges. The SEC registration lists no former company names. Guardant should also not be confused with rival Natera, against which it won a trial in November 2024, or with Tempus AI, with which two proceedings run in opposite directions.
Stock Watch
This analysis is as of August 26, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at GH since then.
Later $1 a month per stock — signing up is free, and you'll be the first to know when it launches.
Price history
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
52-week range: 57.20 $ to 183.10 $ · Last price: 183.10 $ (As of: September 17, 2026)
Key figures
Key figures at a glance
Every figure we hold for this stock, grouped by topic. The question mark next to a label explains what the number means.
Basics
Performance
Technical Indicators
Calculated from the price history · as of 09/18/2026
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
This stock currently pays no dividend.
Quality & Screener
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Comparison
Industry comparison
The stock alongside the largest companies in the same group. The median row is the middle value of the companies shown above — not of the whole industry.
Industry: Diagnostics & Research
| Company | Market cap ($B) | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross Margin % | EBIT Margin % | Sales Growth (Year) % | Perf. 1Y % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guardant Health Inc GH | 24.3 | – | -5.4 | 65.0 | -40.2 | 32.9 | 220.2 |
| Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc TMO | 241.9 | 36.8 | 21.9 | 41.0 | 17.9 | 3.9 | 39.8 |
| Danaher Corporation DHR | 150.1 | 41.8 | 21.5 | 58.8 | 22.9 | 2.9 | 11.0 |
| Natera Inc NTRA | 52.8 | – | -26.8 | 65.2 | -12.4 | 35.9 | 97.3 |
| IQVIA Holdings Inc IQV | 45.2 | 33.9 | 16.6 | 33.0 | 13.6 | 5.9 | 43.9 |
| Agilent Technologies Inc A | 44.2 | 31.0 | 21.4 | 53.7 | 23.7 | 6.7 | 21.8 |
| Waters Corporation WAT | 42.2 | 53.4 | 46.7 | 56.3 | 2.8 | 7.0 | 38.1 |
| IDEXX Laboratories Inc IDXX | 40.3 | 37.7 | 25.4 | 62.5 | 31.8 | 10.4 | -20.5 |
| Illumina Inc ILMN | 37.1 | 43.7 | 23.7 | 67.9 | 18.3 | -0.8 | 143.1 |
| Median of companies shown | 44.2 | 37.7 | 21.5 | 58.8 | 17.9 | 6.7 | 39.8 |
Based on the most recently reported figures. Only stocks from the same trading venue are lined up, so the market caps are counted in one currency. Compare in a chart →
Fiscal years
Annual Figures
Fiscal years from the audited annual reports, oldest first. EBIT is the operating profit before interest and taxes; total assets are everything the company owns.
Revenue, operating income and net income per fiscal year $M
Revenue Operating income Net income
| Fiscal Year | Revenue ($M) | EBIT ($M) | Net Income ($M) | EPS ($) | Operating Cash Flow ($M) | Equity ($M) | Total Assets ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 25 | -44 | -46 | -3.49 | -37 | 80 | 117 |
| 2017 | 50 | -77 | -83 | -1.18 | -72 | 309 | 343 |
| 2018 | 91 | -93 | -85 | -1.00 | -72 | 483 | 587 |
| 2019 | 214 | -82 | -76 | -0.84 | -47 | 798 | 963 |
| 2020 | 287 | -255 | -254 | -2.60 | -104 | 1,299 | 2,272 |
| 2021 | 374 | -411 | -406 | -4.00 | -209 | 645 | 2,205 |
| 2022 | 450 | -544 | -655 | -6.41 | -309 | 60 | 1,610 |
| 2023 | 564 | -565 | -479 | -4.28 | -325 | 159 | 1,786 |
| 2024 | 739 | -444 | -436 | -3.56 | -240 | -140 | 1,486 |
| 2025 | 982 | -437 | -416 | -3.32 | -185 | -99 | 2,014 |
Quarters
Quarterly Figures
Each bar is one quarter, the last one is the most recent. Use the switch to step through the individual figures.
Revenue & Profit
Cash Flow
Balance Sheet
Margins
Per Share
Click the chart or tab into it, then use ← and → to step through the periods.
None of the selected stocks reports this metric. Pick another metric or switch between annual and quarterly.
· Total · per year
These companies report in different currencies — switch on “Indexed” or pick a margin for a fair comparison.
The figures could not be loaded right now.
Source: fundamental data
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | -0.90 | – | 202 | 30.20 | -55.00 | -65 | -83 |
| 2025: Q1 | -0.77 | – | 204 | 20.80 | -46.80 | -63 | -67 |
| 2025: Q2 | -0.80 | – | 232 | 30.90 | -43.00 | -60 | -66 |
| 2025: Q3 | -0.74 | – | 265 | 38.50 | -35.00 | -35 | -46 |
| 2025: Q4 | -1.00 | – | 281 | 39.40 | -45.70 | -14 | -42 |
| 2026: Q1 | -0.85 | – | 302 | 48.30 | -37.20 | -66 | -71 |
| 2026: Q2 | -0.90 | -12.50 | 335 | 44.30 | -35.90 | -58 | -70 |
What Do These Terms Mean?
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Screening
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 26 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Growth
- Ben Bennett: Power Screen
- High Revenue Growth
- Patrick Walker: 40, 40 Screen
- Ted Zhang: Super Stock Universe
Quality & Balance Sheet
Breakout & Setup
Momentum & Trend
- 21-EMA Trend
- Above the 50- & 200-SMA
- Gary Antonacci: Dual Momentum (Stock Adaptation)
- High ADR (≥5%)
- Mark Minervini: Trend Criteria — 1 Month
- Mike Webster: Power Trend Leader
- Mike Webster: Swing Trading List
- Near 52-Week High
- Oliver Kell: Strength on Down Day
- Power Trend
- Qullamaggie: Trend Intensity (13/65)
- RS Leader (≥90)
- RS New Highs
- Richard Moglen: 1 Week Top Performers
- Richard Moglen: Top Performers 3/6 Month
- Stan Weinstein: Checklist
- Stan Weinstein: Stage 2
Research
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. View all scanners
Outlook
Analysts & Price Target
Combined picture of the price targets and recommendations of every analyst covering the stock. Price targets are expectations for the next 12 months, not promises — and they often follow the price rather than predict it.
Distribution of Recommendations
Estimates by Fiscal Year
| Fiscal Year | EPS Estimate ($) | EPS Range ($) | Revenue Estimate ($M) | Expected Growth | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/31/2026 | -1.46 | -1.81 – -1.18 | 1,358 | 19.5% | 22 |
| 12/31/2027 | -0.40 | -1.43 – 0.71 | 1,840 | 72.8% | 20 |
Average of the analyst estimates for the coming fiscal years. The range shows how far the most optimistic and the most cautious estimate sit apart — the wider it is, the less certain the expectation.
Valuation
What is priced in?
Free cash flow over the past twelve months is negative, which rules out a serious reverse calculation. Any growth rate only makes a negative cash flow more negative; no present value comes out of it. What the price reflects here is therefore not a stream of cash flows, but the expectation that there will be one at all.
A simplified model calculation — not a forecast and not a recommendation.
AI classification
AI Rating
Guardant Health verkauft KI-gestützte Analytik als Teil seines Angebots: Die GuardantINFORM-Plattform für biopharmazeutische Kunden wurde laut Geschäftsbericht mit KI-gestützten Analysewerkzeugen entwickelt und steht in der Umsatzzeile „Biopharma and data“, der Guardant-Tissue-Test enthält ein KI-gestütztes PD-L1-Ergebnis, und das gesamte Produktportfolio läuft laut Quartalsbericht über die Smart Platform mit der hauseigenen InfinityAI-Lernmaschine.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„Our product portfolio is now powered by our Smart Platform, which utilizes methylation technology with genomic, epigenomic, and RNA-based data, to unlock multi-modal biology with proprietary chemistry, advanced algorithms and our InfinityAI learning engine."
Unser Produktportfolio wird inzwischen von unserer Smart Platform angetrieben, die Methylierungstechnologie mit genomischen, epigenomischen und RNA-basierten Daten nutzt, um mit eigener Chemie, fortgeschrittenen Algorithmen und unserer InfinityAI-Lernmaschine multimodale Biologie zu erschließen.
10-Q · 2026-05-07 · View SEC filing
„Using data collected from our tests and through AI-enabled analytical tools, we have also developed our GuardantINFORM platform to help biopharmaceutical companies accelerate precision oncology drug development"
Aus den Daten unserer Tests und mithilfe KI-gestützter Analysewerkzeuge haben wir zudem unsere GuardantINFORM-Plattform entwickelt, um biopharmazeutischen Unternehmen zu helfen, die Medikamentenentwicklung in der Präzisionsonkologie zu beschleunigen
10-K · 2026-02-19 · View SEC filing
„we offer Guardant Tissue, the first molecular profiling test for tumor tissue that incorporates comprehensive multiomics analysis, including DNA, RNA, AI-powered PD-L1 and genome-wide methylation data"
wir bieten Guardant Tissue an, den ersten Molekularprofil-Test für Tumorgewebe, der eine umfassende Multiomics-Analyse einschließt — darunter DNA, RNA, KI-gestütztes PD-L1 und genomweite Methylierungsdaten
10-K · 2026-02-19 · View SEC filing
Filings Reviewed: 10-Q 2026-05-07 · 10-K 2026-02-19 · 10-Q 2025-10-29 · 10-Q 2025-07-30 · 10-Q 2025-04-30 · 10-K 2025-02-20
Rated on July 26, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Growth
Growth Score
Ten checks against the annual reports — each one passed counts a point.
- Revenue grows by more than 15% a year over three years 29.8%
- More than 10% revenue growth is expected for the coming year 29.4%
- Share count grows by less than 3% a year 7.1%
- Revenue growth plus cash-flow margin add up to at least 40 ("Rule of 40") 9.2%
- Gross margin at 40% or higher and without meaningful erosion 64.5%
- Goodwill from acquisitions does not grow faster than revenue 3.8%
- Net debt below twice EBITDA failed
- Operating cash flow covers the profits of the last three years 583 m
- Return on capital at 15% or higher, or up versus two years ago -25.6%
- Insiders hold at least 10% or are net buyers 4.0%
A criterion without figures counts neither as passed nor as failed; a score is only produced from 7 judgeable criteria upwards. Source: fundamental data. All ten criteria in detail
Quality check
AAQS
4/10The AAQS (AlleAktien Quality Score) checks 10 quality criteria on growth, profitability, and balance-sheet strength — per the methodology developed and published by AlleAktien, calculated by us from our own fundamental data. A stock counts as a quality stock from 9 out of 10 points. Where a company has a shorter listing history, we calculate over the fiscal years available (at least five).
- Sales growth 10Y > 5% 50.2%
- Exp. sales growth 3Y > 5% 36.9%
- EBIT growth 10Y > 5% –
- Exp. EBIT growth 3Y > 5% 36.9%
- Net debt < 4x EBIT –
- EBIT positive, 10Y straight 0
- Max. EBIT decline < 50% –
- Return on equity > 15% –
- ROCE > 15% -25.6%
- Expected return > 10% 35.6%
View stocks with the full AAQS score · Read the methodology at AlleAktien
Source: fundamental data
Insiders
Insider Transactions
Reportable transactions by officers and major shareholders from SEC Form 4 filings. "Other" includes things like stock grants and option exercises without a buy/sell character.
| Date | Person | Role | Type | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 12, 2026 | Azar Alex M II | Director | Other | 1,651 | 0.00 | – |
| Sep 11, 2026 | Kalia Kumud | Chief Information Officer | Sell | 4,000 | 158.05 | 632,193 |
| Aug 26, 2026 | Eltoukhy Helmy | Co-Chief Executive Officer | Other | 30,000 | 0.00 | – |
| Aug 26, 2026 | Eltoukhy Helmy | Co-Chief Executive Officer | Other | 25,000 | 0.00 | – |
| Aug 21, 2026 | Talasaz AmirAli | Co-Chief Executive Officer | Sell | 7,589 | 170.29 | 1,292,302 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | Talasaz AmirAli | Co-Chief Executive Officer | Sell | 20,888 | 169.16 | 3,533,452 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | Talasaz AmirAli | Co-Chief Executive Officer | Sell | 9,023 | 168.20 | 1,517,631 |
| Aug 21, 2026 | Mignone Roberto | Director | Other | 264 | 0.00 | – |
| Aug 17, 2026 | Tariq Musa | Director | Sell | 116 | 156.45 | 18,148 |
| Aug 17, 2026 | Hidalgo Medina Manuel | Director | Other | 232 | 0.00 | – |
The company
About the Company
Guardant Health, Inc. ist ein Präzisionsonkologie-Unternehmen, das Blut- und Gewebetests sowie Datensätze in den USA und international anbietet.
- CEO Insider Trades (12 Mo.)
- selling own stock
- Employees
- 2,490
- Headquarters
- Palo Alto, CA
- Address
- 3100 Hanover Street, 94304 Palo Alto, United States
- Phone
- 855 698 8887
- Website
- guardanthealth.com
- IPO Date
- 10/04/2018
- ISIN
- US40131M1099
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Helmy Eltoukhy Ph.D. | Co-Founder, Co-CEO & Chairman | 1979 |
| AmirAli Talasaz Ph.D. | Co-CEO & Director | 1980 |
| Michael Bell | Chief Financial Officer | 1969 |
| Darya Chudova | Chief Technology Officer | 1974 |
| John G. Saia J.D. | Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary | 1973 |
| Andy Ament | Senior Vice President of Operations | – |
| Kumud Kalia | Chief Information Officer | 1966 |
| Zarak Khurshid | Vice President of Investor Relations | – |
| Gulshan Shaver J.D. | Senior VP of Legal Affairs & Chief Compliance Officer | – |
| Jennifer Higgins | Senior Vice President of Public Affairs | – |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Filings
Company Filings (8-K)
An 8-K is the filing a US company must use to disclose material events immediately — takeovers, changes at the top, major contracts or payment troubles, for instance. The links open the original document at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- 07/30/2026 Guardant Health, Inc. (GH): Results of Operations and Financial Condition; Financial Statements and Exhibits SEC ↗
Data as of: September 17, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.