Guardant Health’s Shield Test Shows Promise in MCED Market Despite Challenges

Canaccord Genuity analyst Kyle Mikson CFA has reiterated their bullish stance on GH stock, giving a Buy rating on April 22.

Kyle Mikson CFA’s rating is based on the promising data presented by Guardant Health for its multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test, Shield. The test demonstrated high specificity and clinically meaningful sensitivity across ten tumor types in a case-control study involving 778 individuals. Despite the potential for performance degradation in larger prospective studies, the Shield test’s results were favorable compared to GRAIL’s Galleri test in certain cancers.
Kyle Mikson CFA acknowledges that while GRAIL remains a leader in the MCED space, Guardant Health’s strong core and emerging businesses warrant a premium valuation. The large addressable market for MCED tests in the U.S. supports the potential for multiple successful tests, including Guardant’s Shield. The analyst remains optimistic about Guardant Health’s overall business prospects, despite existing hurdles such as cost, Medicare coverage, and FDA approval that could limit near-term adoption.

GH’s price has also changed dramatically for the past six months – from $21.790 to $49.530, which is a 127.31% increase.