Certara Says AI Investments Will Drive Long-Term Growth – But Traders Are Focused On One Warning

• Certara reported first-quarter (Q1) revenue of $106.9 million inline with Wall Street expectations of $106.13 million.
• The company expects to resolve execution and go-to-market challenges in the second half of the year.
• Certara completed the sale of its global medical writing and related regulatory services business to Veristat, LLC for $85.0 million in cash

Shares of Certara Inc (CERT) declined by more than 4% in premarket trading on Monday after the company reported a first-quarter profit miss and slashed its 2026 earnings guidance. Investors focused on management’s warning that operational challenges could linger through the year.

Certara reported first-quarter (Q1) revenue of $106.9 million inline with Wall Street expectations of $106.13 million. However, adjusted earnings came in at $0.09 per share, missing analysts’ estimate of $0.11 per share.

“We are taking decisive steps to sharpen our execution and position Certara for long-term growth, including divesting our Medical Writing business, reorganizing around two focused growth areas, and accelerating our enterprise-wide AI program”, said Jon Resnick, Chief Executive Officer at Certara. 

Software Growth Offset By Services Weakness

The company reported software revenue at $49.7 million, up 7% from a year-ago quarter, but services revenue declined 4% to $57.2 million year over year.

“Our first quarter performance reflects improvement in software, which came in above plan across key metrics,” Chief Financial Officer John Gallagher said. “Services performance was mixed, reflecting execution and go-to-market challenges that we expect to resolve during the second half of the year.” 

CERT Cuts 2026 Earnings Guidance

Certara has cut its full year adjusted earnings guidance, the company now expects it to be in the range of $0.35 to $0.41 per share, down from the prior range of $0.44 to $0.48 per share.

The company now sees full-year revenue to be in the range of $395 million to $405 million, including about $18 million in revenue tied to its Regulatory and Medical Writing business prior to its divestiture. Excluding that business, Certara expects revenue growth to be 0% to 4% for the year.

“Our updated 2026 guidance reflects the impact of the divestiture during the second quarter, and revenue growth expectations of 0% - 4% excluding the Regulatory and Medical Writing Business,” said John Gallagher, CFO at Certara.

Certara Completes $85M Business Sale

Last week, the company completed the sale of its global medical writing and related regulatory services business to Veristat, for $85 million in cash. 

The deal also includes $15.0 million held in escrow, to be released upon meeting certain post-closing conditions, and up to $35.0 million in contingent earn-out payments tied to the unit's financial performance after closing, the company said.

The company stated that net proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes, including funding ongoing operations.

CERT Stock: What Retail Thinks About It?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment surrounding the stock has remained  ‘bullish’ amid ‘high’ message volumes in the past 24 hours.

Shares of Certara have declined more than 27% so far this year.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

Read Next: This Geospatial Stock Is Up Over 300% This Year – Analysts Still See A 32% Upside Potential