New York, January 6, 2026, 13:39 EST — Regular session
Guardant Health Inc shares rose 7.2% to $109.24 in afternoon trade on Tuesday, even after Evercore ISI analyst Vijay Kumar cut the stock to “In Line” from “Outperform” while lifting his price target to $105 from $90. The stock traded between $101.02 and $112.12 earlier in the session. 1
The move keeps Guardant near its 52-week high of $112.43 after a steep run that has left the Nasdaq-listed cancer diagnostics firm up about 200% over the past year, according to Investing.com data. Shares have ranged between $34.55 and $112.43 over the last 52 weeks. 2
Evercore’s downgrade came in a wider “look-ahead” note on medtech and life science tools, where Kumar also downgraded Exact Sciences and other names. He wrote that “recovering end markets and sector rotation” have “set the stage for a 2026 Tools play,” while warning that potential changes to the Affordable Care Act and Medicare “have bears watching.” 3
A Form 4 filing on Monday showed Chief People Officer Terilyn J. Monroe received 17,555 shares through the vesting of restricted stock units, with 7,524 shares withheld by the company to cover taxes at $102.14 per share. Form 4 filings disclose insider transactions to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 4
Investors are also watching how reimbursement shapes demand for Shield, Guardant’s blood test for colorectal cancer screening. The company has said the test’s Medicare payment rate for 2026–2027 is set through the Advanced Diagnostic Laboratory Test (ADLT) process — a program that uses private-payer data to help determine Medicare pricing — and co-CEO AmirAli Talasaz has said the designation “reinforces the value that our Shield blood test for colorectal cancer screening brings to patients.” 5
Other cancer-testing names were mixed on Tuesday. Natera shares were up about 3.3%, Exact Sciences was little changed, and Illumina rose about 1.9%.
But the rally leaves less room for disappointment. A slower pace of test adoption, pricing pressure, or any shift in reimbursement rules could weigh on expectations for 2026 as blood-based screening and cancer monitoring markets draw more competition.
