{"id":860733,"date":"2026-08-19T11:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T11:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/860733\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T11:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T11:00:16","slug":"healthcare-results-wrap-are-cogstate-and-pro-medicus-shares-a-buy-hold-or-sell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/860733\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthcare results wrap: Are Cogstate and Pro Medicus shares a buy, hold or sell?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, both Cogstate Ltd (ASX: CGS<\/a>) and Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX: PME<\/a>) released FY26 results.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Investors reacted very differently to these results, with Cogstate shares falling 2% and Pro Medicus shares rocketing over 11%.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Following these results, the team at Bell Potter provided updated guidance on these healthcare companies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Happy<\/p>\n

Image source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

What did they report?<\/p>\n

Cogstate posted record FY26 revenue<\/a> of US$60.9 million, up 15%, and a net profit after tax of US$11.9 million, up 17%.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Pro Medicus announced<\/a> full-year revenue of $261.7 million, up 22.9%, with underlying NPAT rising 24.1% to $144.7 million. The company remains debt-free and has lifted its fully franked total dividend by 25.5% to 69 cents per share.<\/p>\n

Cogstate and Pro Medicus’ full results can be found here:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both healthcare companies have had a very different 12 months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cogstate shares are up 62% in the last year, while Pro Medicus are down 38% in the same span.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Following yesterday’s results, here is the latest guidance out of the team at Bell potter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bell Potter’s outlook for Cogstate<\/p>\n

The broker Bell Potter viewed Cogstate’s FY26 result positively, with revenue up 15% to $60.9m, ahead of expectations, while a strong 2H gross margin of 62% drove full-year EBITDA of $18.3m and NPAT of $11.9m, both above forecast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company doubled its dividend to 4 cents per share and remained debt-free with $34.8m of cash. Cogstate now enters FY27 from a record base, supported by very positive sales prospects, expected revenue growth, and an intention to maintain FY26’s EBITDA margins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bell Potter has increased FY27-29 revenue forecasts by around $1m annually, reflecting stronger Clinical Trials activity and improved visibility, but higher operating costs more than offset this, resulting in around $1m lower NPAT forecasts in each year.<\/p>\n

Based on this guidance, the broker retained its $3.70 price target and buy recommendation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This indicates an upside potential of more than 35%.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bell Potter’s outlook for Pro Medicus\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pro Medicus reported FY26 revenue and EBIT growth of 23% and 26%, respectively, with EBIT results modestly (1.5%) ahead of consensus earnings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bell Potter said that as the group’s revenue base expands, top-line growth is decelerating. However, margin expansion continues, driving the small earnings beat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The broker also highlighted that the company retained all six of its expiring contracts during FY26, which it believes were not subject to a competitive bidding process, based on factors such as client satisfaction with service levels and value.<\/p>\n

The team at Bell Potter retained its buy recommendation and $226 price target for Pro Medicus shares after the company’s results.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From yesterday’s closing price, the price target indicates 15% upside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Yesterday, both Cogstate Ltd (ASX: CGS) and Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX: PME) released FY26 results.\u00a0 Investors reacted very…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,500],"class_list":["post-860733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}