Adaptive Biotechnologies Stock Surges 6%: Here’s Why Investors Are Buzzing

Wall Street's latest flavor-of-the-week biotech play just got a caffeine jolt.

The spike: Adaptive Biotechnologies (NASDAQ: ADPT) shares leapt nearly 6% in Wednesday's session—no FDA approval or blockbuster trial data required. Sometimes the market just wants to party.

Behind the move: While the algos churned and retail traders chased momentum, institutional flows quietly stacked up. Classic case of 'buy first, ask questions later'—the hedge fund playbook in action.

Reality check: Let's not confuse a single-day pop with actual fundamentals. This is the same market that once valued a crypto ape JPEG at $3 million. Buyer beware.

MRD for the win

The commercial-stage Adaptive booked $58.9 million in revenue for the period, a robust 36% improvement over the same quarter of 2024. Much of this growth was due to the company's efforts fighting minimal residual disease (MRD), a cancer disorder in which a relatively small number of cancer cells remain in the body -- and thus present a threat -- after medical treatment.

Image source: Getty Images.

Adaptive revealed that its MRD business was responsible for 85% of the quarter's revenue. Its take grew 42% year over year.

At the bottom of the profit and loss statement, Adaptive recorded a net loss of $25.6 million ($0.17 per share). This was much narrower than the more than $46 million deficit of 2024's Q2.

With those numbers, the company scored an easy twin beat on the consensus analyst estimates. Those folks were modeling only $49 million and change for revenue, and a significantly deeper net loss of $0.24 per share.

A key revenue stream should flow harder

On the back of that encouraging growth in the MRD sphere, Adaptive raised its guidance for both the revenue from that business and cash burn.

It now expects that MRD will bring in $190 million to $200 million across the entirety of 2025, up from its previous projection of $180 million to $190 million. It did not proffer any guidance for its other major revenue stream, immune medicine. As for cash burn, over the year, it should be $45 million to $55 million. The preceding forecast called for $50 million to $60 million.