Stocks · Healthcare · Biotechnology
Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. VRCA
$4.38 -2.88% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NASDAQ · Market cap $75.2M
High risk
Next earnings report: Nov 13, 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
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $30.3M, up 106.2% from a year earlier, slowing from 417.6% a quarter earlier.
- Operating margin widened to -92.8% from -263.4% a year earlier.
- The diluted share count rose 124.5% in a year.
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 10%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRTop 12%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 2%
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalBottom 3%
- Gross marginTop 24%
- Operating marginBottom 29%
- Accruals (lower is better)Top 4%
- Interest coverBottom 36%
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldBottom 19%
- Free-cash-flow yieldBottom 26%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueBottom 17%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 27%
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthBottom 50%
- 6-month returnBottom 24%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Bottom 42%
- Distance from 52-week highBottom 22%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Bottom 14%
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 34%
- Consecutive EPS beatsBottom 20%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 25%
- Upside to consensus price targetTop 36%
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Bottom 42%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsBottom 4%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Bottom 23%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 417.6% | 106.2% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 86.6% | 85.9% | ↓ |
| Operating margin | -263.4% | -92.8% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | -322.1% | -44.0% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 106.2% | 417.6% | ↓ | Top 10% |
| Gross margin | 85.9% | 86.6% | ↓ | Top 24% |
| Operating margin | -92.8% | -263.4% | ↑ | Bottom 29% |
| Net margin | -102.8% | -330.5% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | -44.0% | -322.1% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | -193.6% | — | Bottom 3% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 57.9% | — | Top 12% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -49.5%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 11.6%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -142.4 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- Net cash
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- -7.5×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.00%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- -66.54%
- Shareholder yield
- -66.54%
- Share count change, 1 year
- +124.5%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- +66.8%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 0
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 4 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +12.3%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +0.7%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 3 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $9.00
- Target vs current price
- +105.5%
- Analysts with a rating
- 10
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 60%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | -60.0% | -2.7% | -7.6% | -2.2% | — |
| May 12, 2026 | +30.5% | -3.4% | -20.7% | -17.3% | -27.6% |
| Mar 11, 2026 | -18.6% | +4.7% | +5.5% | -2.7% | +2.8% |
| Nov 14, 2025 | +97.4% | +1.6% | +3.9% | +104.7% | +47.0% |
| Aug 12, 2025 | +102.9% | +1.8% | -8.1% | -25.4% | -51.0% |
| May 13, 2025 | +19.0% | +8.7% | +27.3% | +18.8% | +20.8% |
| Mar 11, 2025 | -650.0% | +1.7% | +2.2% | +1.3% | -6.6% |
| Nov 4, 2024 | -32.4% | -6.5% | -45.8% | -16.3% | -57.6% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 6, 2026 | -$0.62 | -$0.39 | -60.0% | $5.9M |
| May 12, 2026 | -$0.41 | -$0.59 | +30.5% | $5.0M |
| Mar 11, 2026 | -$0.51 | -$0.43 | -18.6% | $5.1M |
| Nov 14, 2025 | -$0.03 | -$1.14 | +97.4% | $14.3M |
| Aug 12, 2025 | $0.02 | -$0.70 | +102.9% | $12.7M |
| May 13, 2025 | -$1.00 | -$1.23 | +19.0% | $3.4M |
| Mar 11, 2025 | -$2.40 | -$0.32 | -650.0% | $344,000 |
| Nov 4, 2024 | -$4.90 | -$3.70 | -32.4% | -$1.8M |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EV / Sales | 2.17× | — | — | Top 27% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | -17.74% | — | — | Bottom 26% |
| Earnings yield | -39.73% | — | — | Bottom 19% |
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)
- -9.6%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- -3.2%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -11.8%
- Distance from 200-day average
- -27.6%
- RSI (14)
- 41.3
- Relative volume
- 0.88×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 60.0%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 18th percentile · Low for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 1.75
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.20
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -51.9%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -96.6%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 15, 2021 | Nov 4, 2025 | -98.1% | 1167 days | Not yet recovered |
| Oct 8, 2020 | Oct 30, 2020 | -19.6% | 16 days | 14 days (Nov 19, 2020) |
| Feb 9, 2021 | Mar 4, 2021 | -16.9% | 16 days | 4 days (Mar 10, 2021) |
| Dec 23, 2020 | Jan 13, 2021 | -16.8% | 13 days | 6 days (Jan 22, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $75.2M
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- -$1.74
- Revenue (TTM)
- $30.3M
- 52-week range
- $3.28 – $9.82
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $12.0M | $9.0M | $5.1M | $7.6M | $35.6M |
| Gross profit | $11.5M | $8.3M | $4.4M | $4.8M | $32.1M |
| Operating income | -$30.9M | -$21.3M | -$65.8M | -$65.9M | -$11.9M |
| Net income | -$35.1M | -$24.5M | -$67.0M | -$76.6M | -$17.9M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$12.97 | -$7.17 | -$14.78 | -$14.78 | -$1.68 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | -$1.8M | $344,000 | $3.4M | $12.7M | $14.3M | $5.1M | $5.0M | $5.9M |
| Net income | -$22.9M | -$16.2M | -$9.7M | $204,000 | -$274,000 | -$8.1M | -$9.7M | -$13.2M |
| EPS (diluted) | -$4.88 | -$2.41 | -$1.03 | $0.02 | -$0.03 | -$0.64 | -$0.45 | -$0.62 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | -$27.6M | -$18.6M | -$38.6M | -$60.9M | -$17.6M |
| Capital expenditure | -$883,000 | -$302,000 | -$362,000 | -$27,000 | $0 |
| Free cash flow | -$28.5M | -$19.0M | -$38.9M | -$61.0M | -$17.6M |
| Dividends paid | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Net share buybacks | $28.1M | $26.9M | $30.3M | $39.6M | $50.1M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $11.2M
- Total assets
- $36.0M
- Total liabilities
- $31.7M
- Total debt
- $1.8M
- Net debt
- -$9.4M
- Shareholders’ equity
- $4.3M
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 6, 2026).
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 202,755
- Days to cover
- 4.18
- Change vs previous report
- -8.9%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jul 25, 2025
- 1-for-10