Caris Life Sciences surges 7% on surprise Q4 profit, 125% revenue jump
Cancer diagnostics company swings to profitability on molecular profiling strength, raises 2026 outlook
Caris Life Sciences shares surged 7% on Friday after the cancer diagnostics company reported a surprise profit for the fourth quarter that shattered Wall Street expectations, driven by explosive growth in molecular profiling services.
The Irving, Texas-based company reported earnings per share of $0.28, swinging dramatically from a consensus estimate of a loss of $0.03 per share. Revenue jumped 125% year-over-year to $292.9 million, significantly surpassing analyst projections of $208.6 million and representing a 40% beat against expectations.
The quarterly results mark a turning point for the precision medicine company, which achieved $82 million in GAAP net income compared to a net loss of $36.9 million in the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA reached $106.1 million, while free cash flow totaled $39.7 million.
Molecular profiling services emerged as the primary growth engine, with revenue surging 199% year-over-year to $282.1 million. The company completed approximately 52,700 clinical therapy selection cases in the quarter, a 20% increase from the prior year, including 44,150 MI Profile cases and 8,550 Caris Assure cases.
Gross margins expanded dramatically to 75% from 54% in the prior-year period, an approximately 2,100 basis point improvement that reflects strong pricing power and operational efficiency gains across the platform.
"The demand for our platform continued to accelerate in 2025, leading to strong growth in volume and revenue and expanded adoption of our solutions," said David Dean Halbert, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Caris Life Sciences. "We are focused on building on this momentum, advancing our pipeline, and look forward to launching the Caris Detect solution in the first half of 2026, a significant growth opportunity and a step forward for precision medicine."
Looking ahead, the company projected full-year 2026 revenue of $1.0 billion to $1.02 billion, representing growth of approximately 23% to 26% compared to full-year 2025. Management expects clinical therapy selection volume to grow approximately 20% year-over-year, while molecular profiling revenue is forecast to increase 21% to 22%.
The forthcoming launch of Caris Detect, the company's multi-cancer early detection (MCED) assay, represents a potentially transformative catalyst for the business. The company has partnered with Everlywell for the test's distribution and reported encouraging interim data from clinical trials.
Analysts responded positively to the report, with Robert W. Baird raising its price target to $28 from $26. The stock currently holds an average rating of "Hold" with an average price target of $33.50, according to MarketBeat.com data. Two analysts maintain "Buy" ratings, one holds a "Hold," and one has issued a "Sell" rating.
For the full year 2025, Caris reported revenue of $812 million, a 97% increase from the prior year, with clinical therapy selection cases reaching approximately 199,300, up 22% year-over-year. The company has now completed more than 1 million total profiles and 740,000 total matched profiles through December 31, 2025.
The stock's performance on Friday marks a significant recovery from its 52-week low of $17.15, though it remains well below its 52-week high of $42.50 set earlier in the year. The company's market capitalization stands at approximately $5.2 billion.
Caris also announced collaborations with pharmaceutical partners, including a tie-up with Genentech to discover novel therapeutic targets in cancer, highlighting the growing importance of its molecular database in drug development.
The precision medicine company's strong quarter and optimistic outlook come amid growing investor interest in molecular diagnostics and early cancer detection technologies, a sector that has attracted significant venture capital and institutional investment in recent years.