New York, Feb 20, 2026, 05:44 (EST) — Premarket
- Tempus AI barely budged in premarket action, following a two-day surge that sent shares up about 14%.
- Mizuho initiated coverage on Tempus, setting an Outperform rating and a $100 price target after the company launched its new HRD-RNA cancer algorithm.
- Up next for the rally: Tempus drops its quarterly results Feb. 24.
Tempus AI, Inc. was flat at $59.96 ahead of Friday’s open, holding onto sharp gains racked up during a two-day rally that pushed the healthcare AI name up roughly 14% since the end of trading Tuesday. Thursday’s session closed with the stock at $59.96, climbing 6.8% for the day as volume topped 8.37 million shares, Investing.com data show.
This shift comes as Tempus prepares to report earnings next week, with investors left puzzling over what actually drives revenue—are new tools and tests picking up the slack, or is it simply more chatter in an already noisy diagnostics space?
This comes as small and mid-cap healthcare stocks—especially anything stamped “AI”—have been whipsawed by initiations and product news. Tempus fits right into that trading pattern.
Bradley Bowers at Mizuho kicked off coverage of Tempus, tagging it with an Outperform and aiming for a $100 price target, TipRanks said, referencing The Fly. Bowers described Tempus as a player in the precision-oncology diagnostics space, a core market he values at close to $40 billion and estimates is expanding at a 30% annual clip.
Tempus on Wednesday announced it has rolled out a new pan-cancer “HRD-RNA” algorithm, targeting detection of tumors with homologous recombination deficiency, or HRD—a DNA repair malfunction that can inform treatment options. The company says the HRD-RNA test is built to find patients who may be more likely to benefit from platinum-based chemotherapy or PARP inhibitors, with clinical launch anticipated later this year. For now, the tool is limited to research use. “By looking at the transcriptome, we can identify a functional HRD status that is more dynamic than what can be seen in the genome alone,” said Chief Development Officer Halla Nimeiri in the statement. Nasdaq
Tempus is in the thick of the fight for both attention and funding, going up against other oncology testing and data outfits. The pace of adoption usually depends on clinical evidence and reimbursement, plus how fast hospitals and pharma companies are willing to shift their routines.
Attention shifts to Feb. 24: that’s when Tempus will post its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 numbers, with results coming out after the bell and a conference call set for 4:30 p.m. ET.
Still, there’s risk on both sides. The HRD-RNA tool hasn’t reached the clinic yet, and management’s timeline pushes any commercial lift into later this year. That leaves shares vulnerable—if earnings come up short, or the market cools on the early optimism before results back it up.
