ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc (ACAD)
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After eight loss-making years, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals reported profits in 2024 and 2025 — and both of them came from somewhere else. In 2024, $146.5 million from the sale of an FDA voucher lifted operating income; in 2025, a $252.1 million tax benefit turned $138.9 million of pre-tax income into the $391.0 million everyone quotes. In the first quarter of 2026 the company posted an operating loss of $4.6 million. Underneath all that, a real business with two medicines keeps growing — but a patent clock is running on the bigger one, and it is being set in a courtroom in Delaware. So we sort it out line by line: what this company earned, and what simply arrived.
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This stock currently matches 4 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. Scanners marked in red are red-flag signals (risk/short scanners) — appearing there is not a seal of approval. View all scanners
Basics
Performance
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
Uses AIACADIA führt den Einsatz von künstlicher Intelligenz und maschinellem Lernen als eigene Strategiesäule „Data Innovation“ von der Wirkstoffsuche bis zur Vermarktung und bestätigt im Quartalsbericht, dass Beschäftigte generative KI in ihrer täglichen Arbeit verwenden; ein KI-Produkt wird nicht verkauft.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„We plan to leverage advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) throughout our business from discovery through commercialization."
Wir beabsichtigen, fortschrittliche Technologien einschließlich künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) und maschinellen Lernens (ML) in unserem gesamten Geschäft einzusetzen — von der Wirkstoffsuche bis zur Vermarktung.
„Our employees and personnel use generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to perform their work, and the disclosure and use of personal data in generative AI technologies is subject to various privacy laws and other privacy obligations."
Unsere Beschäftigten und Mitarbeitenden setzen generative KI-Technologien zur Erledigung ihrer Arbeit ein, und die Offenlegung und Nutzung personenbezogener Daten in generativen KI-Technologien unterliegt verschiedenen Datenschutzgesetzen und weiteren Datenschutzpflichten.
Filings Reviewed: 10-K 2026-02-26 · 10-K 2025-02-27 · 10-Q 2026-05-07 · 10-Q 2025-11-06 · 10-Q 2025-08-07 · 8-K 2026-05-29
Rated on July 27, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 0.86 | 214.10 | 260 | 12.40 | 55.40 | 40 | 40 |
| 2025: Q1 | 0.11 | 14.00 | 244 | 18.70 | 7.80 | 20 | -79 |
| 2025: Q2 | 0.16 | -21.30 | 265 | 9.30 | 10.10 | 64 | 163 |
| 2025: Q3 | 0.42 | 113.30 | 279 | 11.30 | 25.80 | 74 | 74 |
| 2025: Q4 | 1.60 | 84.80 | 284 | 9.40 | 96.30 | -49 | -53 |
| 2026: Q1 | 0.02 | -81.40 | 268 | 9.70 | 1.40 | 34 | 29 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Revenue rose without interruption from $441.8 million in 2020 to $1,071.5 million in 2025 and added another 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2026, reaching $268.1 million. The gross margin was 91.7 percent in 2025 and 90.8 percent in the first quarter of 2026 — the level you expect from a pharmaceutical company with patent-protected products.
Both profitable years rest on one-time items: $146.5 million from the sale of an FDA voucher in 2024, and a $252.1 million tax benefit in 2025 from releasing a $340.4 million valuation allowance. Stripped of special items, operating income was $84.3 million in 2024 and $104.8 million in 2025; in the first quarter of 2026 it was minus $4.6 million.
NUPLAZID and DAYBUE account for 100 percent of revenue, NUPLAZID alone for 63.5 percent in 2025. There is no third approved product; the Phase 3 candidate ACP-101 missed its primary endpoint in September 2025 and was discontinued. The most advanced successor, remlifanserin, was in Phase 2 as of the quarterly report filed May 7, 2026.
The composition-of-matter patent on pimavanserin expires in 2030, with polymorph and method-of-use patents running out between 2026 and 2028. Settlements bind Hetero until February 27, 2038 and Zydus until September 23, 2036 or February 27, 2038. Still open are the appeal by MSN and Aurobindo, whose briefing has been complete since December 19, 2025, and a trial against Zydus beginning November 2, 2026.
As of March 31, 2026 the company held $1,248.1 million of equity against $357.2 million of liabilities, plus $851.5 million in cash and investment securities after $819.7 million at the end of 2025. The equity ratio is 77.8 percent and the Altman Z score 6.96 (own recalculation: 6.95). One caveat: $249.6 million of those assets are deferred tax assets that presuppose future profits.
At the July 24, 2026 close of $24.84 the market value stood at roughly $4.25 billion — about 4.0 times 2025 revenue and about 3.4 times book value. The trailing price-to-earnings ratio of roughly 11 is distorted by the tax benefit; on the current-year estimate the multiple is roughly 74. The consensus price target is $32.80.
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals is the bottom-line trap in its purest form: the books show $391.0 million of net income for 2025, while pre-tax income was $138.9 million — the difference is a $252.1 million tax benefit from releasing a valuation allowance. A year earlier, an FDA voucher worth $146.5 million had carried operating income. Underneath sits a business that genuinely turned: revenue climbed from $441.8 million in 2020 to $1,071.5 million, operations threw off $109.8 million of cash in 2025, and the balance sheet carries $1,248.1 million of equity and $851.5 million of cash. But the first quarter of 2026 was operationally in the red at minus $4.6 million because selling costs jumped 35.3 percent, Europe rejected the DAYBUE application, and the lead product's patent protection returns to court on November 2, 2026. Not investment advice.
- ACADIA Pharmaceuticals reached our research list through our in-house stock scanner: a hit on the "Turnaround-Kandidaten" list (U.S. selection) with a turnaround check of 6 of 8 points, as of July 27, 2026. We measured the list separately for both editions: 60 U.S. hits each, 44 of them tied at 6 points. Because the ordering inside that tie is undefined and shifts with every recalculation, we name no exact rank — only the range of ranks 17 to 60 is meaningful. The detail page shows only the 25 strongest hits — ACADIA does not appear there. The lists are recalculated daily.
- Our own cross-checks on the scanner metrics: the Altman Z score of 6.96 was recalculated from the 2025 annual accounts and confirmed at 6.95, although it is carried mainly by the market value of equity while the accumulated deficit of $1,813.4 million works against it. The Piotroski score diverges: the data set shows 5 of 9, while recalculating the 2025 10-K against the 2024 10-K gives 6 of 9 — the failing items in both cases are cash flow above net income, an unchanged share count and rising asset turnover. The stored distance from the all-time high of minus 59.02 percent implies an all-time high near $58; our own measurement of the highest closing price since the 2004 IPO gives $57.00 on July 7, 2020, or minus 56.4 percent against the close of July 24, 2026.
- Every figure carries its own reporting date: annual figures from the 10-K for 2025 (filed February 26, 2026) and for 2024 (filed February 27, 2025), quarterly figures from the 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2026 (filed May 7, 2026), annual meeting and compensation data from the 8-K dated May 29, 2026 and the S-8 dated June 10, 2026, share count from the quarterly report cover page (April 29, 2026). Valuation ratios as of July 26, 2026 based on the closing price of July 24, 2026 — meant to be evergreen, never a daily price as a buy argument.
- Identity and recency: the ticker ACAD belongs to ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc. of San Diego (CIK 0001070494), not to the similar-sounding asset manager Acadian Asset Management. The company was incorporated in Vermont in 1993 as Receptor Technologies, Inc.; since reincorporating in Delaware in 1997 there has been no name change, and the SEC filing index lists no former names. Across every filing through June 29, 2026 there is no Form 25 and no Form 15, no tender offer (SC 14D9, SC TO) and no merger document — the company is independent and listed on NASDAQ.
About the Company
ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc., ein biopharmazeutisches Unternehmen, konzentriert sich auf Entwicklung und Vermarktung von Medikamenten für neurologische und seltene Erkrankungen in Nordamerika.
| Employees | 796 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | San Diego, CA |
| Website | acadia.com |
| IPO Date | 27. May 2004 |
| Next Earnings | 5. Aug 2026 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Catherine E. Owen Adams | CEO & Director | 1970 |
| Mark C. Schneyer | Executive VP & CFO | 1974 |
| Jennifer J. Rhodes J.D. | Executive VP, Chief Legal Officer & Secretary | 1970 |
| Elizabeth H. Z. Thompson Ph.D. | Executive VP and Head of Research & Development | 1976 |
| Thomas Andrew Garner | Executive VP & Chief Commercial Officer | 1976 |
| Scott Cenci | Senior VP, Chief Information & Data Officer | – |
| Albert S. Kildani | Senior Vice President of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications | – |
| James K. Kihara | Senior Vice President of Finance | 1981 |
| Allyson McMillan-Youngblood | Senior Vice President of Rare Disease Franchise | – |
| Konstantina Katcheves | Senior VP, Chief Business & Strategy Officer | – |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 24, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.