What happened
Shares of Exact Sciences (EXAS +0.17%) were soaring 12% as of 10:49 a.m. EST on Monday. The big jump came after the diagnostics company announced preliminary fourth-quarter results on Sunday evening.
So what
With such an impressive gain today, it's not surprising that Exact Sciences' preliminary results looked really good. The company expects to post fourth-quarter revenue between $464.5 million and $467.5 million. The low end of that range is well above the consensus analysts' estimate of $431.2 million.
The biggest chunk of the company's revenue will come from screening, which includes its Cologuard and Biomatrica products. Exact Sciences projects screening revenue in the fourth quarter will increase 9% year over year to a range of $249 million to $250 million. Precision oncology revenue generated by the Oncotype cancer diagnostics test is anticipated to come in between $117 million and $118 million. The company also looks for another big boost from COVID-19 testing, with fourth-quarter revenue between $98.5 million and $99.5 million.
As you might expect, Exact Sciences' tremendous quarterly performance should also make its full-year 2021 numbers even better. The company now expects total revenue for the year to be between $1.49 billion and $1.493 billion. The average analyst estimate projected full-year revenue of $1.46 billion.
Now what
These aren't final numbers. Exact Sciences still hasn't finished preparing its financial statements for the fourth quarter or full-year 2020. The company plans to conduct its quarterly earnings call in February. There's no question, though, that the prospects for the healthcare stock continue to look bright.
