Should You Continue to Hold EXAS Sciences Stock in Your Portfolio?

Exact Sciences Corporation’s EXAS efforts to further promote its flagship Cologuard as the standard of care are encouraging. The company plans to transform cancer care by providing patients with valuable insights at every step of their diagnosis and treatment. Additionally, it continues to invest in a pipeline of innovative solutions for every stage of cancer diagnosis. However, unfavorable solvency and mounting costs from macroeconomic pressures raise concerns for EXAS’ operations.

In the past year, this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock has rallied 23.5% against the 17.1% fall of the industry and the S&P 500 Composite’s gain of 11.3%.

The globally renowned medical device company boasts a market capitalization of $10.34 billion. It has a long-term earnings growth rate of 29.3% compared with the industry’s 21.4%. Additionally, the company’s earnings surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and fell short in another, delivering an average surprise of 48.8%.

Key Drivers for EXAS Stock

Strategic Priority Bodes Well: Exact Sciences is pushing Cologuard as the CRC screening benchmark, backed by 16 million test uses over the past decade. In the first quarter of 2025, screening revenues increased 14%, led by broad-based Cologuard growth. Continued success in rescreens, care gap programs and growth in new ordering providers fuels this momentum. Exact Sciences is investing in the leadership team, training and sales force efficiency, as well as simplifying the electronic ordering process to further drive growth.  Rescreening patients every three years from age 45 is also expected to contribute.

Meanwhile, the robust international adoption of Oncotype DX led to 4% year-over-year growth in Precision Oncology revenues. The test, included in all major breast cancer treatment guidelines, helps early-stage breast cancer patients by evaluating the need for chemotherapy and recurrence risk. With about 70% of the eligible patients outside the United States not currently being tested, there still remains a substantial opportunity to grow.

Enhancing Customer Experience: The company is currently working to build the best digital infrastructure and diagnostics. This vision has two main elements: first, enabling patients to take a more proactive role in their care. Second, it makes it easy for physicians to order tests, interpret results and personalize medicine by applying real-world evidence and guideline recommendations.

The combined strength of Exact Nexus, the company’s proprietary technology platform, and EXAS’ commercial capabilities is leading to more patients completing Cologuard every three years, supporting the company’s goal of making screening a routine practice and also closing the screening gap. The company has identified more than 100 opportunities with payers and health systems to address the care gaps with Cologuard through large, organized screening programs.

Advancing New Solutions: In late March 2025, the company launched Cologuard Plus, the most accurate non-invasive CRC screening test reported in studies so far. The test rapidly secured Medicare coverage, pricing and quality measure guideline inclusion. With its enhanced specificity, Cologuard Plus is expected to reduce unnecessary follow-up colonoscopies by up to 40% compared to the original Cologuard test.

Subsequent to the quarter’s end, Exact Sciences marked another highly anticipated launch with its Oncodetect MRD test. Introduced as a laboratory-developed test (LDT), the company expects to obtain Medicare reimbursement through the Molecular Diagnostic Services Program in the second quarter of 2025. Furthermore, the Cancerguard MCED test is on track to be launched as an LDT later this year. The company is also making headway with its blood-based colon cancer screening test, with top-line results from the pivotal BLUE-C study expected by mid-2025.

Factors Weighing on EXAS Stock

Strong Solvency but Highly Leveraged: Exact Sciences exited the first quarter of 2025 with cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities of $786 million and zero current debt. However, the company’s significant indebtedness is a concern. Long-term debt of $2.32 billion was almost consistent with the fourth-quarter levels.

Escalating Costs: Exact Sciences’ business has been affected by global macroeconomic conditions. Disruptions in the United States, Europe or other economies, whether from geopolitical tensions or changing international trade policies, could disrupt global markets, interrupt global supply chains and lead to inflationary or recessionary effects on the worldwide economy. In addition, the high-interest rate environment and limited access to capital markets could strain the company’s suppliers, distributors and key business partners, making it difficult for them to remain in business. All these are creating significant pressure on its profitability as well.

EXAS Stock Estimate Trend

In the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Exact Sciences’ loss for 2025 went from 61 cents to 14 cents in the past 60 days.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company’s 2025 revenues suggests a 12.4% year-over-year improvement to $3.10 billion.

Top MedTech Picks

Some better-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Phibro Animal Health PAHC, Hims & Hers Health HIMS and Cencora COR.

Phibro Animal Health has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 26% compared with the industry’s 15.7%. Its earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 30.6%. Its shares have rallied 37.7% compared with the industry’s 10.7% growth in the past year.

PAHC sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Hims & Hers Health, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2, has an earnings yield of 1.3% against the industry’s 11.9% yield. Shares of the company have surged 151.7% compared with the industry’s 32.5% gain. HIMS’ earnings surpassed estimates in two of the trailing four quarters, matched on one occasion and missed on another, the average surprise being 2.8%.

Cencora, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present, has an earnings yield of 5.4% compared with the industry’s 4.1%. Shares of the company have rallied 25.8% against the industry’s 22.4% fall. COR’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 6%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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