Should You Buy ICU Medical Inc (ICUI) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.
Conclusion
Hold
Latest Price
149.530
1 Day change
-0.33%
52 Week Range
169.590
Analysis Updated At
2026/01/29
ICU Medical (ICUI) is NOT a good buy right now for a beginner, long-term investor who wants to enter immediately. The stock’s longer-term trend looks constructive (bullish moving averages), but near-term momentum is weakening (negative and expanding MACD) and the options open-interest positioning is defensively skewed (high put open interest). With price sitting just above key support (~147.9) and below the pivot/resistance zone (~153.2), the risk/reward for an immediate entry is unfavorable today. Best action: HOLD (or wait to buy until momentum improves / price reclaims the pivot zone).
Technical Analysis
Price: 149.37 (flat on the day). Trend is mixed:
- Moving Averages: Bullish alignment (SMA_5 > SMA_20 > SMA_200) suggests the broader trend remains up.
- MACD: Histogram -0.568 and negatively expanding = bearish momentum building in the near term.
- RSI(6): 39.3 = weak/soft momentum (not oversold enough to be a clean mean-reversion buy).
- Levels: Support S1 ~147.9 (then S2 ~144.6). Resistance/pivot ~153.23, then R1 ~158.57.
Interpretation: ICUI is in a pullback within a broader uptrend, but momentum is still deteriorating. Buying immediately near 149 means you’re betting support holds without confirmation.
**Intellectia Proprietary Trading Signals**
- [AI Stock Picker](module://ai_stock_pick): No signal on given stock today.
- [SwingMax](module://swingmax): No signal on given stock today.
Options Data
Bearish
Open Interest Put-Call Ratio
Bullish
Option Volume Put-Call Ratio
Options read-through (2025-11-19):
- Open Interest: Put OI 3911 vs Call OI 1065; OI Put/Call = 3.67 (bearish/defensive positioning or heavy hedging).
- Volume: Put/Call volume ratio = 0.14 (call volume dominates today: 79 calls vs 11 puts), which is a short-term bullish tilt.
- Volatility: 30D IV ~45% vs HV ~35% (options pricing in elevated moves). IV percentile ~47.6 (not extremely high/low).
Sentiment takeaway: Mixed. Longer-dated positioning leans cautious (high put OI), while today’s flow is more bullish (call-heavy).
Technical Summary
Sell
5
Buy
6
Positive Catalysts
- Wall Street view is supportive: two recent Overweight ratings with raised price targets (Piper Sandler to $172; KeyBanc to $175).
- Guidance tone (per analyst notes) improved after Q3 execution, with EBITDA/EPS outlook reset higher.
- No supportive news flow in the past week to provide an event-driven push upward.
- Options open interest is heavily put-skewed (Put/Call OI 3.67), often seen when market participants are hedging or leaning defensive.
Financial Performance
Latest quarter: 2025/Q3
- Revenue: 536.99M, down -8.85% YoY (top-line contraction).
- Net Income: -3.40M, down -89.70% YoY (profitability weakened into a loss).
- EPS: -0.14, down -89.63% YoY.
- Gross Margin: 37.41%, up +7.59% YoY (a clear positive trend in efficiency/mix).
Overall: Margins are improving, but growth/profitability are not yet consistently positive based on the provided Q3 figures.
Growth
Profitability
Efficiency
Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends
Recent analyst trend (latest updates 2025-11-07):
- Piper Sandler: Overweight; price target raised to $172 from $153 (bullish revision after Q3 beat and higher guidance).
- KeyBanc: Overweight; price target raised to $175 from $173 (incrementally more bullish).
Wall Street pros: improving operational execution, margin/outlook progress, and raised targets.
Wall Street cons: continued macro headwinds noted, and the company’s reported YoY revenue decline/earnings weakness can keep investors cautious.
Influential/insider/political activity: Hedge funds neutral; insiders neutral; no recent congress trading data available.
Wall Street analysts forecast ICUI stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for ICUI is 173.5 USD with a low forecast of 172 USD and a high forecast of 175 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
3 Analyst Rating
Wall Street analysts forecast ICUI stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for ICUI is 173.5 USD with a low forecast of 172 USD and a high forecast of 175 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
2 Buy
1 Hold
0 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 150.030
Low
172
Averages
173.5
High
175
Current: 150.030
Low
172
Averages
173.5
High
175
Piper Sandler
Overweight
maintain
$153 -> $172
AI Analysis
2025-11-07
Reason
Piper Sandler
Price Target
$153 -> $172
AI Analysis
2025-11-07
maintain
Overweight
Reason
Piper Sandler raised the firm's price target on ICU Medical to $172 from $153 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm notes ICU reported Q3 results, including revenue upside across all segments, healthy margin outperformance, and a wide EPS beat. This contributed to management resetting EBITDA and EPS guidance meaningfully higher to account for the overage. Piper likes that the implied outlook for Q4 was prudently left unchanged.
KeyBanc
Overweight
maintain
$173 -> $175
2025-11-07
Reason
KeyBanc
Price Target
$173 -> $175
2025-11-07
maintain
Overweight
Reason
KeyBanc raised the firm's price target on ICU Medical to $175 from $173 on higher estimates, while keeping an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm remains encouraged by ICU's underlying operational progress as well as ability to raise 2025 EPS/EBITDA guidance, despite continued macro headwinds.
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