Stocks · Healthcare · Medical - Devices
Cerus Corporation CERS
$2.28 -1.72% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $459.5M
Next earnings report: Nov 5, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Net debt is 20.2× EBITDA, a high level of leverage.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $221.6M, up 15.1% from a year earlier.
- Operating margin widened to -0.7% from -6.1% a year earlier.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Healthcare sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 40%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 10%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 45%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 35%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 34%
- Gross marginBottom 36%
- Operating marginTop 43%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 39%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 4%
- Interest coverTop 45%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 34%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 37%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 36%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 30%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 25%
- 6-month returnTop 37%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 27%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 47%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 38%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 13%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 35%
- Share of analysts rating BuyTop 45%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 45%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 20%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 25%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 18%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 4%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 17.0% | 15.1% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 56.1% | 52.0% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | -6.1% | -0.7% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 1.8% | -0.8% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 15.1% | 17.0% | ↓ | Top 40% |
| Gross margin | 52.0% | 56.1% | ↓ | Bottom 36% |
| Operating margin | -0.7% | -6.1% | ↑ | Top 43% |
| Net margin | -3.1% | -9.8% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | -0.8% | 1.8% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | -1.1% | — | Top 34% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 8.4% | — | Bottom 45% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -4.5%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 9.5%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -16.4 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 20.23×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- -0.2×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- -0.05%
- Shareholder yield
- -0.05%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +4.8%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +3.6%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 30, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 2
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 4 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +47.8%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- -0.4%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $4.00
- Target vs current price
- +75.4%
- Analysts with a rating
- 10
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 80%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2026 | +25.0% | +0.7% | -20.9% | -4.5% | — |
| Apr 30, 2026 | +66.7% | +5.7% | +34.9% | +52.1% | +59.9% |
| Mar 2, 2026 | +0.0% | -1.2% | -24.6% | -30.5% | +6.6% |
| Nov 6, 2025 | +99.5% | -2.8% | +13.8% | +44.8% | +61.4% |
| Aug 5, 2025 | -50.0% | -1.5% | -3.8% | -2.3% | +15.4% |
| May 1, 2025 | +20.0% | -1.5% | -1.5% | -6.8% | +3.0% |
| Feb 20, 2025 | +0.0% | -3.9% | -9.4% | -15.5% | -28.7% |
| Oct 30, 2024 | -33.3% | +1.2% | -2.4% | +3.5% | +24.7% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 30, 2026 | -$0.01 | -$0.01 | +25.0% | $63.3M |
| Apr 30, 2026 | -$0.01 | -$0.03 | +66.7% | $59.9M |
| Mar 2, 2026 | -$0.01 | -$0.01 | +0.0% | $64.6M |
| Nov 6, 2025 | -$0.00 | -$0.02 | +99.5% | $52.7M |
| Aug 5, 2025 | -$0.03 | -$0.02 | -50.0% | $52.4M |
| May 1, 2025 | -$0.04 | -$0.05 | +20.0% | $43.2M |
| Feb 20, 2025 | -$0.01 | -$0.01 | +0.0% | $50.8M |
| Oct 30, 2024 | -$0.02 | -$0.02 | -33.3% | $46.0M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV / EBITDA | 178.2× | — | — | Top 36% |
| EV / Sales | 2.34× | — | — | Top 30% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | -0.40% | — | — | Top 37% |
| Earnings yield | -1.59% | — | — | Top 34% |
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✗ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 0
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -7.9%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +3.0%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -12.5%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -6.3%
- RSI (14)
- 33.4
- Relative volume
- 1.01×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 76.6%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 70th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.86
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.40
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -30.5%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -52.1%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 22, 2020 | Aug 20, 2025 | -86.5% | 1169 days | Not yet recovered |
| Oct 9, 2020 | Oct 30, 2020 | -23.0% | 15 days | 22 days (Dec 2, 2020) |
| Dec 10, 2020 | Dec 16, 2020 | -12.2% | 4 days | 4 days (Dec 22, 2020) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $459.5M
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$0.04
- Revenue (TTM)
- $221.6M
- 52-week range
- $1.38 – $3.47
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $130.9M | $162.0M | $156.4M | $180.3M | $206.1M |
| Gross profit | $67.4M | $87.1M | $86.4M | $99.5M | $112.3M |
| Operating income | -$48.9M | -$34.1M | -$30.1M | -$14.2M | -$8.7M |
| Net income | -$54.4M | -$42.8M | -$37.5M | -$20.9M | -$15.6M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.32 | -$0.24 | -$0.21 | -$0.11 | -$0.08 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $46.0M | $50.8M | $43.2M | $52.4M | $52.7M | $57.8M | $53.7M | $57.4M |
| Net income | -$2.9M | -$2.5M | -$7.7M | -$5.7M | -$19,000 | -$2.2M | -$1.6M | -$2.9M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$0.02 | -$0.01 | -$0.04 | -$0.03 | -$0.00 | -$0.01 | -$0.01 | -$0.01 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | -$33.9M | -$25.6M | -$43.2M | $11.4M | $11.4M |
| Capital expenditure | -$910,000 | -$2.0M | -$4.6M | -$2.8M | -$2.8M |
| Free cash flow | -$34.8M | -$27.6M | -$47.8M | $8.5M | $8.5M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | $2.7M | $4.0M | -$175,000 | $667,000 | $560,000 |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $56.3M
- Total assets
- $205.2M
- Total liabilities
- $134.5M
- Total debt
- $76.8M
- Net debt
- $58.8M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $70.0M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 30, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 17,994,821
- Days to cover
- 16.58
- Change vs previous report
- +1.6%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.