Guardant Health disclosed strategic expansion of its cancer‑screening business, acquiring MCED startup MetaSight Diagnostics for $59 million upfront plus contingent payments and forecasting substantial growth for its Shield colorectal screening test in 2026. Management guided screening revenue to $162–$174 million and expected Shield test volumes to reach 210,000–225,000 tests. Guardant said the MetaSight deal complements Shield by broadening its screening technologies and highlighted commercial partnerships—most notably a Quest Diagnostics integration—to scale test ordering and laboratory access. Executives characterized their guidance as conservative but cited strong sequential adoption and physician demand. The acquisition and guidance position Guardant to compete more aggressively in blood‑based cancer screening while navigating reimbursement, guideline inclusion and clinical utility benchmarks. Next steps: integration of MetaSight tech into Guardant’s portfolio, roll‑out with Quest, and continued data generation to support payer coverage and guideline adoption.