Is this under-the-radar $2.5bn growth stock the next big AI winner? 

I believe it’s truthful to say that growth stock Heartflow (NASDAQ:HTFL) is flying below the radar proper now. That’s comprehensible, as this medical expertise agency solely went public final summer season and nonetheless has a small $2.5bn market cap.

Nevertheless, Heartflow is experiencing fast growth because it revolutionises coronary heart illness prognosis with its AI instruments. And as we all know, the market goes loopy for a lot of fast-growing AI corporations in the present day. 

Would possibly this change into one among the next big AI winners?  

Personalised AI-powered diagnostics 

In the US in the present day, there’s a coronary heart assault each 40 seconds. And heart problems is the primary reason for demise globally.

Heartflow’s proprietary expertise may assist this fall considerably over the next decade through earlier and extra exact prognosis. The US agency makes use of AI to create personalised 3D visualisations of a affected person’s coronary arteries from CT scans. 

Put merely, its software program exhibits docs precisely how a lot a blockage is definitely proscribing blood move with no need an invasive coronary heart process. And its newer Plaque Evaluation product, which permits detailed coronary anatomy of every affected person, helps docs predict the danger of a coronary heart assault earlier than it occurs. 

The corporate’s software program integrates seamlessly with current hospital IT programs and an growing variety of coronary heart scans have US insurance coverage protection.

How briskly is it rising?

Final 12 months, Heartflow’s income jumped 40% to $176m, with its put in base reaching 1,465 accounts in the US. Its US Plaque put in base grew to 489, which is encouraging. 

Even higher, the firm appears to have an nearly untapped world growth alternative. As a result of whereas worldwide and different income grew 24% final 12 months, it solely made up $15.4m of the complete (lower than 9%). 

I’d count on that to move larger, given the potential for adoption throughout Canada, Japan, and Europe.  

It’s value noting that regardless of the firm having excessive gross margins (76.8% final 12 months), it’s nonetheless loss-making. Final 12 months, the web loss was $116.8m, up from $96.4m the 12 months earlier than. 

Heartflow ended 2025 with $280m in money, equivalents, and investments. But when it can not cut back the losses, the firm might have to boost additional cash in future. 

For 2026, administration has guided for income of about $230m, which might signify growth of roughly 26%. This places the stock on an expensive forward-looking price-to-sales ratio of 11.

However taking a look at Wall Avenue forecasts, the agency isn’t anticipated to show worthwhile till a minimum of 2028. 

An AI winner in the making?

I do see quite a bit to love right here. The corporate has 600+ patents worldwide and appears to have a protracted runway of growth, particularly internationally.

Nevertheless, figuring out whether or not Heartflow will change into an AI winner is troublesome. When Anthropic launched a collection of agentic AI toolkits again in January, its share worth crashed 44% in a month.

One thing related may occur once more, even when the AI-powered software program enterprise isn’t disrupted. 

That stated, when Baron Discovery Fund purchased extra Heartflow shares in Q1, it wrote: “It’s arduous to grasp how Heartflow can be simply disintermediated, given the buyer belief it has constructed up, and its FDA accredited software program based mostly on important medical trials and tens of millions of real-world CT scan analyses.” 

I do assume this is an fascinating high-risk, high-reward growth stock to have a look at. So I’ve popped it on my watchlist.