What Happened?
Shares of genetic testing company Natera (NASDAQ: NTRA). jumped 7.7% in the morning session after the company announced its Signatera test received regulatory approval in Japan.
The approval from Japan's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) is for the use of Signatera in patients with colorectal cancer. This makes it the first PMDA-approved molecular residual disease (MRD) test in the country. MRD tests are used to detect small numbers of cancer cells that remain in the body during or after treatment. Natera plans to launch the test commercially in Japan by the end of 2026. This news followed other positive developments for the company. The previous day, analysts at BTIG raised their price target on the stock to $270 from $250 after the Signatera test was included in NCCN guidelines for muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Natera’s shares are quite volatile and have had 17 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was about 2 months ago when the stock dropped 12.2% on the news that the company reported mixed first-quarter 2026 financial results, where strong revenue growth was overshadowed by a wider-than-expected net loss.
Although Natera posted a significant 38.8% year-over-year increase in revenue to $696.6 million, beating analysts' expectations, investors focused on the deteriorating bottom line. The company's GAAP loss widened to $0.60 per share from $0.50 per share in the same quarter last year. This result also missed Wall Street's consensus estimate of a $0.55 loss per share. The widening loss, despite surging sales, raised concerns among investors about the company's path to profitability.
Natera is up 11% since the beginning of the year, and at $253.96 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $254.40 from January 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Natera’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,121.
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