Certara NASDAQ: CERT reported first-quarter 2026 revenue of $106.9 million, up 1% from the prior-year period, as stronger software performance offset softer services results and the company outlined a strategic reset under Chief Executive Officer Jon Resnick.
Resnick, who said he has passed the 100-day mark as CEO, told investors that the quarter was “in line with our expectations” but “does not reflect the company’s potential.” He said Certara is focused on driving “long-term durable growth” by reshaping its business and portfolio strategy and adding more operational rigor.
Chief Financial Officer John Gallagher said software revenue rose 7% year over year to $49.7 million, driven by Simcyp, Phoenix and Chemaxon. Services revenue fell 4% to $57.2 million, reflecting mixed results in model-informed drug development services and softness in regulatory services.
Software Bookings Improve, Services Bookings Decline
Total bookings for the quarter were $115.3 million, down 2% from a year earlier, while trailing 12-month bookings rose 5% to $479.2 million.
Software bookings increased 20% year over year to $48.7 million, and trailing 12-month software bookings rose 8% to $192.2 million. Gallagher said software performance was at or above plan across all three customer tiers. Certara’s software net retention rate was 106 in the quarter.
Services bookings declined 14% to $66.6 million in the quarter, though trailing 12-month services bookings increased 2% to $286.9 million. Gallagher said Certara saw softer performance from tier 1 customers in model-informed drug development services after a strong fourth quarter.
Adjusted EBITDA was $31.7 million, down from $34.8 million a year earlier, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 30%. Certara reported a net loss of $8.8 million, compared with net income of $4.7 million in the first quarter of 2025. Adjusted net income was $14.5 million, compared with $22.2 million a year earlier. Adjusted diluted earnings per share were $0.09, down from $0.14 in the prior-year quarter.
Company Exits Medical Writing Business
Resnick said Certara closed the divestiture of its regulatory writing and medical writing business to Veristat. He said the move sharpens Certara’s focus on areas where it has “defined competitive and scientific advantage,” improves revenue predictability and creates closer alignment between expert services and technology.
Gallagher said the divested businesses generated $50 million of revenue and approximately $17 million of adjusted EBITDA in 2025, excluding unallocated overhead expenses. In the first quarter of 2026, they contributed approximately $13 million in revenue, and Certara expects to recognize approximately $5 million from them in the second quarter.
Following the divestiture, Gallagher said Certara expects its revenue mix to be approximately 50% software and 50% services.
Certara Reorganizes Around MID3 and ACE
Resnick said Certara is reorganizing into two growth areas: model-informed drug development and discovery, which the company calls MID3, and accelerated clinical evidence, or ACE.
In response to an analyst question, Resnick said MID3 will include the company’s core model-informed drug development and discovery applications, including Simcyp and Certara IQ, along with expert service capabilities such as quantitative systems pharmacology, quantitative systems toxicology and physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling.
ACE, he said, will focus on data and workflow challenges, including products such as Phoenix, Clinical, CoAuthor and GlobalSubmit. Resnick said the goal is to accelerate how data is turned into evidence for submission.
The company is also searching for a chief product officer who will report to Resnick and oversee product development across the organization.
AI Platform and Partnerships Take Center Stage
Resnick framed Certara’s strategy around the growing use of artificial intelligence in drug discovery and development. He cited industrywide investments from companies including Eli Lilly, Roche Genentech, Amazon, OpenAI and Anthropic as evidence that customers are increasing spending on AI and technology-enabled capabilities.
Certara is building what Resnick described as an AI-integrated platform on top of its existing portfolio. He said the platform is intended to allow researchers to interrogate Certara’s knowledge across products, datasets and scientific expertise to get “accurate, trusted answers” to complex questions. The company has formed an AI-native team, allocated investment resources and is engaging “lighthouse customers,” he said.
Certara appointed Dr. Chris Bouton as chief AI officer. Bouton also serves as chief technology officer and has led Certara’s AI implementation efforts.
Resnick also highlighted a strategic collaboration with NVIDIA to apply accelerated computing and AI to Certara’s next-generation platform. He said the collaboration is intended to reduce manual, time-intensive steps and shift biosimulation from sequential processes to parallel iterative workflows. In the Q&A session, he said the companies are working to speed complex simulations and make certain modeling capabilities more broadly usable within customer organizations.
Certara also expanded its commercial collaboration through a new relationship with Altasciences, an integrated CRO/CDMO. Resnick said the two companies are working on a “model-first” approach to early drug development intended to accelerate the path to proof of concept.
Guidance Updated After Divestiture
Certara updated its 2026 outlook to reflect the divestiture. The company now expects full-year reported revenue of $395 million to $405 million, including $18 million related to the divested business. Excluding the divested business in both periods, Gallagher said the outlook implies full-year growth of 0% to 4%, consistent with the company’s prior expectations.
- Revenue: $395 million to $405 million for 2026.
- Adjusted EBITDA margin: 30% to 32% for the full year.
- Adjusted EPS: $0.35 to $0.41 per share.
- Fully diluted shares: Expected in the range of 157 million to 159 million.
- Effective tax rate: About 30%.
Gallagher said first-half revenue growth is expected to be closer to the low end of the 0% to 4% range, while second-half growth is expected to be at or above the high end. Software growth is expected to be at or above the high end of that range for the year, while services growth is expected to be toward the low end, with improvement in the second half.
Certara ended the quarter with $149.5 million in cash and cash equivalents and $294.8 million of outstanding borrowings on its term loan. Gallagher said the company repurchased approximately $82.6 million of stock under its $100 million authorization, including $40 million in the first quarter.
Asked about capital allocation, Gallagher said share repurchases remain a focus, while Certara is also evaluating tuck-in acquisitions.
About Certara NASDAQ: CERT
Certara is a biosimulation software and services company that partners with pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device developers to accelerate drug discovery, development and regulatory approval. The company's platform integrates quantitative pharmacology, real-world evidence, artificial intelligence and machine learning to model and simulate drug behavior across a range of therapeutic areas and patient populations. By applying these mechanistic and data-driven approaches, Certara helps its clients predict clinical outcomes, optimize dosing strategies and streamline decision-making throughout the product lifecycle.
The company's offerings are divided into software tools and consulting services.
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