Acadia Pharmaceuticals
ACAD on Nasdaq. ACADIA Pharmaceuticals sells medicines for Parkinson's disease psychosis and Rett syndrome to patients. Market value $3.5bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
We can't read total debt from the filing, so debt is left out.
Should I look at this?
Not a fit for our list right now
Why it could be worth it
See Health care stocks that passed both tests
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $4.28 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
The filings do not give us enough to work this out.
The filings do not give us enough to work this out.
Quality score: 52 of 100. Price score: 73 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$19.74 a share, at its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $19.57 to $30.96.
Pays no dividend
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $484m | $517m | $726m | $958m | $1.1bn |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | -35.2% | -43.2% | -10.1% | 24.1% | 9.8% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.16bn | 0.16bn | 0.17bn | 0.17bn | 0.17bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive3 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)5 of 8 checks we could run
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)No
- DebtUnknown
- Revenue growth, five yearsStrong, 19.4% a year
- Buying back its own sharesNo, 6% more shares since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $308 million last quarter, up 16% on a year ago.
- Profit: $32 million, up 18% on a year ago.
- It keeps 8 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, down from 23 cents a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $146 million, down from $187 million.
- 2% more shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit less of the company.
- Sales grew on a year ago in each of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $250m |
| December 2024 | $260m |
| March 2025 | $244m |
| June 2025 | $265m |
| September 2025 | $279m |
| December 2025 | $284m |
| March 2026 | $268m |
| June 2026 | $308m |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $33m |
| December 2024 | $144m |
| March 2025 | $19m |
| June 2025 | $27m |
| September 2025 | $72m |
| December 2025 | $274m |
| March 2026 | $4m |
| June 2026 | $32m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 26 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 4 November 2026
Who owns it
2 long-term investors we follow own it, unchanged from 2 last quarter. 352 funds in all.
- LSV Asset ManagementJosef Lakonishok
- Value
- $435,000
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royce & AssociatesChuck Royce | $2m | <0.1% | New |
| LSV Asset ManagementJosef Lakonishok | $435,000 | <0.1% |
Sold out this quarter
Largest holders overall
- Baker Bros. Advisors LP$1.1bn
- BlackRock$570mAdded
- State Street$230mAdded
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$224m
- RTW Investments, LP$181m
- Vanguard Capital Management$146m
- Dimensional Fund Advisors LP$93mAdded
- Geode Capital Management$85mCut
- Palo Alto Investors LP$72m
- Goldman Sachs Group$65mAdded
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
6 investors own more than 5%.
- Julian C. Bakerat least 25.4%(filed with 4 related holders)Since 24 February 2026
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor11.9%Since 31 January 2025
- STATE STREET CORPORATIONPassive investor5.3%Since 30 June 2026
- Roderick Wong, M.D.Passive investor5.2%Since 31 December 2024
- Vanguard Portfolio ManagementPassive investor5.2%Since 31 March 2026
- RTW Investments, LPPassive investorat least 4.2%−1.0 pts(filed with 1 related holder)Since 30 September 2025
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
Julian C. Baker | at least 25.4% (filed with 4 related holders) | 24 February 2026 | |
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 11.9% | 31 January 2025 | |
STATE STREET CORPORATION Passive investor | 5.3% | 30 June 2026 | |
Roderick Wong, M.D. Passive investor | 5.2% | 31 December 2024 | |
Vanguard Portfolio Management Passive investor | 5.2% | 31 March 2026 | |
RTW Investments, LP Passive investor | at least 4.2%−1.0 pts (filed with 1 related holder) | 30 September 2025 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
No insider bought shares on the open market in the last 12 months. 6 sold $3m, $885,102 of it under preset trading plans.
- Schneyer Mark C.EVP, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 6 August 2026
- Shares
- 14,292
- Price
- $29.22
- Value
- $417,604
- Schneyer Mark C.EVP, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 5 August 2026
- Shares
- 5,849
- Price
- $29.00
- Value
- $169,638
- Thompson Elizabeth H.Z.EVP, Head of Research & DevSold
- Date
- 30 July 2026
- Shares
- 16,558
- Price
- $26.13
- Value
- $432,663
- Kihara JamesPRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING OFFICERSoldunder a preset trading plan
- Date
- 26 June 2026
- Shares
- 11,421
- Price
- $26.08
- Value
- $297,860
- Kihara JamesPRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING OFFICERSold
- Date
- 26 May 2026
- Shares
- 5,401
- Price
- $21.18
- Value
- $114,393
- Schneyer Mark C.EVP, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERSold
- Date
- 4 May 2026
- Shares
- 3,506
- Price
- $21.79
- Value
- $76,396
- Kihara JamesPRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING OFFICERSold
- Date
- 4 May 2026
- Shares
- 1,332
- Price
- $21.79
- Value
- $29,024
- Schneyer Mark C.EVP, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERSold
- Date
- 7 April 2026
- Shares
- 2,709
- Price
- $22.20
- Value
- $60,140
- Kihara JamesPRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING OFFICERSold
- Date
- 7 April 2026
- Shares
- 1,030
- Price
- $22.20
- Value
- $22,866
- Schneyer Mark C.EVP, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICERSold
- Date
- 26 March 2026
- Shares
- 3,208
- Price
- $21.65
- Value
- $69,456
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 August 2026 | Schneyer Mark C. EVP, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER | Sold under a preset trading plan | 14,292 | $29.22 | $417,604 |
| 5 August 2026 | Schneyer Mark C. EVP, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER | Sold under a preset trading plan | 5,849 | $29.00 | $169,638 |
| 30 July 2026 | Thompson Elizabeth H.Z. EVP, Head of Research & Dev | Sold | 16,558 | $26.13 | $432,663 |
| 26 June 2026 | Kihara James PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING OFFICER | Sold under a preset trading plan | 11,421 | $26.08 | $297,860 |
| 26 May 2026 | Kihara James PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING OFFICER | Sold | 5,401 | $21.18 | $114,393 |
| 4 May 2026 | Schneyer Mark C. EVP, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER | Sold | 3,506 | $21.79 | $76,396 |
| 4 May 2026 | Kihara James PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING OFFICER | Sold | 1,332 | $21.79 | $29,024 |
| 7 April 2026 | Schneyer Mark C. EVP, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER | Sold | 2,709 | $22.20 | $60,140 |
| 7 April 2026 | Kihara James PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING OFFICER | Sold | 1,030 | $22.20 | $22,866 |
| 26 March 2026 | Schneyer Mark C. EVP, CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER | Sold | 3,208 | $21.65 | $69,456 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the warning signs we check for were found.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 26 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 5 Aug 2026 and 7 later 8-Ks.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
- Profits run ahead of cash.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.