CeriBell Q1 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• CeriBell posted strong Q1 growth, with revenue rising 29% year over year to $26.5 million, driven by record headband utilization and the company’s largest quarter of net new hospital additions since going public.
• Management raised full-year 2026 revenue guidance to $112 million-$116 million from $111 million-$115 million, citing continued momentum from new account wins and higher usage at existing hospitals.
• The company is expanding into new product markets, including a full commercial launch of neonatal/pediatric seizure monitoring and an active delirium pilot, with a broader commercial rollout of delirium expected in late 2026 or early 2027.

CeriBell NASDAQ: CBLL reported first-quarter revenue growth of 29% and raised its full-year outlook, as management cited higher usage of its seizure monitoring system and the company’s strongest quarter of net new hospital additions since becoming public.

On the company’s earnings call, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Jane Chao said first-quarter revenue was $26.5 million, up 29% year over year and 7% sequentially. She said growth was driven by “record headband utilization” and the company’s “largest quarter of net new account additions.”

CeriBell ended the quarter with 680 hospitals actively using its system, reflecting 33 net additions during the period. Chao said the company remains focused on becoming the standard of care for seizure management across 6,000 U.S. hospitals that offer acute care services, pursuing growth through both new account acquisition and increased utilization in existing accounts.

Revenue rises as hospital base expands

Chief Financial Officer Scott Blumberg said total revenue rose to $26.5 million from $20.5 million in the prior-year quarter, primarily due to increased adoption of the CeriBell System across new and existing accounts.

• Product revenue was $20.2 million, up 29% from $15.6 million in the first quarter of 2025.
• Subscription revenue was $6.3 million, up 29% from $4.9 million a year earlier.
• Gross margin was 87%, compared with 88% in the prior-year period.

Blumberg said the company was able to maintain strong gross margin despite relying on inventory acquired from China at elevated tariff rates. He said cost-reduction initiatives undertaken in 2025 “nearly fully offset” the tariff expense. CeriBell has also begun manufacturing in Vietnam, and Blumberg said inventory from that line is expected to begin flowing through the income statement in the back half of 2026.

Operating expenses increased 36% to $43.9 million from $32.2 million a year earlier. Blumberg said sales and marketing expenses reflected continued investment in the commercial organization and the timing of the company’s national sales meeting. Research and development expense increased due to headcount expansion tied to product platform enhancements and new product development.

General and administrative expense was affected by ongoing intellectual property litigation, which totaled $5.6 million in the quarter. Blumberg said that amount was “considerably higher” than in prior quarters because of the nonlinear nature of litigation activity. In the Q&A session, he said litigation costs are likely to remain elevated in the second quarter before moderating later in 2026.

Loss widens, guidance moves higher

CeriBell reported a net loss of $19.7 million, or 52 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $12.8 million, or 36 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2025. The company used a weighted average share count of 37.7 million shares to calculate first-quarter loss per share.

The company also began reporting adjusted EBITDA, which excludes interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, stock-based compensation and legal expenses associated with the ongoing IP litigation. Adjusted EBITDA loss was $11.2 million, compared with $10.9 million in the prior-year period.

Cash equivalents and marketable securities totaled $141.2 million as of March 31, 2026. Blumberg said the company remains committed to achieving cash flow breakeven with cash on hand.

CeriBell raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to a range of $112 million to $116 million, up from prior guidance of $111 million to $115 million. The updated outlook implies growth of 26% to 30% over 2025. Blumberg said the revision reflected momentum in the core business, including new account additions and higher usage within established accounts.

In response to an analyst question about the guidance increase, Chao said the company’s 2026 performance is being driven by account acquisition and same-store growth. “We’re doing quite well on both,” she said, pointing to record usage per account and the company’s largest quarter of net new adds since becoming public.

Pediatric and neonatal products enter full commercial launch

Chao said CeriBell has initiated the full commercial launch of its neonatal and pediatric seizure monitoring products following a pilot at five sites. She said all five hospitals in the pilot are moving from pilot use to full implementation.

Chao said the pilot validated safety, ease of use and, at some sites, the accuracy of the company’s Clarity algorithm. She also pointed to health economic benefits, particularly for hospitals that are not level 4 neonatal centers and may otherwise transfer patients because of limited EEG availability.

Management said pediatric and neonatal adoption could support both utilization and new account additions, but Chao cautioned that the revenue impact in 2026 is expected to be limited because implementation in new departments can take months. She said a “much more meaningful impact” is expected in 2027 and beyond.

Delirium pilot begins ahead of expected commercial launch

CeriBell also activated the first site in its delirium pilot in April. Chao said this marks the company’s entry into a market it estimates at $1 billion. She said CeriBell is the first and only company with an FDA-cleared delirium monitoring solution following 510(k) clearance in December.

The delirium pilot is intended to build real-world experience, identify the right patient population, optimize clinical workflows, refine the commercial strategy and generate clinical evidence. Chao said interest in delirium monitoring has been strong and is amplified when paired with seizure detection.

The company also highlighted a supportive proposed rule from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for a New Technology Add-on Payment for its delirium monitoring solution. The proposed rule would provide up to $2,171 in incremental reimbursement per patient. If finalized in August 2026, the payment would become effective Oct. 1, 2026.

Chao said the company remains on track for a full commercial launch of the delirium solution in the fourth quarter of 2026 or the first quarter of 2027. In the Q&A session, she said the company has not yet decided whether delirium will be priced separately or used primarily to drive broader patient usage.

Management cites sales force maturity and new hospital channels

Chao said the company is seeing benefits from the sales organization expansion launched in late 2024. Among newer hires with at least 12 months of tenure, she said more than 85% have contributed to the active account base and 100% have generated purchase orders.

The company also continues to pursue opportunities in the Veterans Affairs system, following its FedRAMP High authorization last year, and has launched a pilot at select U.S. military hospitals. Chao said military hospitals represent a smaller opportunity than the VA system but provide validation of the product and the company’s position in the category.

CeriBell is also testing a regional health system strategy focused on top-down engagement with administrators, chief medical officers, transfer leaders and financial executives. Chao said the approach is intended to complement territory managers’ bottom-up sales activity and coordinate adoption across multi-hospital systems.

Looking ahead, Chao said CeriBell estimates its U.S. total addressable market at about $3.5 billion, nearly double what it was a year ago. She said the company’s long-term objective is to establish EEG as a “new vital sign” through a single brain monitoring platform for neurological care.

About CeriBell NASDAQ: CBLL

CeriBell Corp NASDAQ: CBLL is a healthcare technology company specializing in the design, manufacture and sale of automated newborn hearing screening devices. The company offers a suite of medical diagnostic tools based on otoacoustic emissions (OAE) and auditory brainstem response (ABR) technologies, enabling early detection of auditory impairments in infants. CeriBell's solutions are used in hospitals, birthing centers and audiology clinics to support universal newborn hearing screening programs aimed at improving language development outcomes through prompt intervention.

The company's product portfolio includes handheld and desktop screening units, proprietary software for data management, and accessories designed to streamline testing workflows.

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