Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS) Upgraded at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Exact Sciences was upgraded from a "hold" to a "strong-buy" rating by Zacks Research, indicating a more favorable outlook from investment analysts.
• Barclays has increased its price target for Exact Sciences from $55 to $65, while UBS has decreased its target from $61 to $53, showcasing differing analyst opinions on the stock's value.
• The company's latest earnings report showed a revenue increase of 16% year-over-year, with earnings per share of $0.22, exceeding expectations by $0.24.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Barclays upped their price target on Exact Sciences from $55.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. UBS Group dropped their target price on Exact Sciences from $61.00 to $53.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Exact Sciences from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Exact Sciences from $64.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on Exact Sciences from $54.00 to $46.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $68.71.

Exact Sciences Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Exact Sciences stock opened at $57.75 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.56, a current ratio of 2.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $10.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.32 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.27. Exact Sciences has a fifty-two week low of $38.81 and a fifty-two week high of $72.83.

Exact Sciences (NASDAQ:EXAS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The medical research company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by $0.24. Exact Sciences had a negative return on equity of 1.75% and a negative net margin of 34.19%.The business had revenue of $811.09 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $774.43 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.09) earnings per share. Exact Sciences's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Exact Sciences will post -0.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Exact Sciences

In related news, Director James Edward Doyle sold 1,485 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.02, for a total transaction of $62,399.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 59,962 shares in the company, valued at $2,519,603.24. This trade represents a 2.42% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Exact Sciences

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Exact Sciences by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,637,674 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $763,535,000 after purchasing an additional 617,384 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Exact Sciences by 11.2% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,403,872 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $277,225,000 after purchasing an additional 643,631 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Exact Sciences by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,281,639 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $142,062,000 after purchasing an additional 362,314 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its holdings in Exact Sciences by 120.1% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 3,128,958 shares of the medical research company's stock valued at $135,453,000 after purchasing an additional 1,707,287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in Exact Sciences during the 2nd quarter valued at $157,805,000. 88.82% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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