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Global contract research organization (CRO) providing outsourced clinical trial and drug-development services to pharma, biotech and medical device companies.
Global contract research organization (CRO) providing outsourced clinical trial and drug-development services to pharma, biotech and medical device companies.
Runs clinical trials for drug makers under contracts that usually last years, billing as the work progresses, so its contracted backlog shows future revenue. Large drugmakers often use a handful of preferred providers, and ICON competes to be one of them. The 2021 PRA Health Sciences merger made it one of the largest in the industry.
Moat: narrow (scale, process know-how, switching costs). Large global trial-site network and therapeutic expertise create mid-trial switching costs, reinforced by scale after the PRA Health merger.
Headquarters: Dublin, Ireland · Founded: 1990 · Employees: 40,100
Size ICON (ICLR) is a United States Health Care company (Miscellaneous Commercial Services) with a market value of $15.3B, the 588th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $204.74 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 64.5%, against +25.9% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 3rd highest of 15 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 0.7% over the last twelve months (peer median -1.2%); the operating margin is 9.6% (peer median 3.4%).
Valuation It trades at 18.2× forward earnings against a peer median of 23.5× (3rd cheapest of 9).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 16% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +24%, so the hurdle is -8 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 4.5 points below its cost of capital (9.8% WACC).
Backlog Backlog (remaining performance obligations) was $16.4B at 30 Sep 2026, up 17% on a year earlier — 2.0 years of trailing revenue. Backlog detail →
Credit ICON has 3 bonds outstanding ($2.25B), rated BBB- by the agencies and trading like BBB at a weighted spread of 101 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 3.9% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 24 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $8.23B | $8.25B | $8.19B | $8.12B | $7.74B |
| Revenue growth | — | +1% | +1% | +5% | — |
| Gross profit | $1.56B | $1.79B | $1.88B | $1.81B | $1.64B |
| EBITDA | $1.20B | $1.47B | $1.68B | $1.69B | $1.45B |
| Net income | $449M | $229M | $739M | $612M | $505M |
| Free cash flow | $830M | $862M | $1.12B | $1.02B | $421M |
| Capital expenditure | $170M | $174M | $168M | $141M | $142M |
| Total debt | $3.51B | $3.56B | $3.60B | $3.94B | $4.83B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ICON ICLR | $15.3B | +64% | +1% | 10% | 18.2× | 16.3% |
| Iqvia IQV | $44.8B | +52% | +9% | 14% | 19.7× | 17.3% |
| Labcorp LH | $29.8B | +45% | +6% | 11% | 19.0× | 13.9% |
| Medpace MEDP | $18.3B | +54% | +20% | 21% | 33.9× | 22.1% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | ICLR | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +24.5% | +5.8% | 3rd highest of 15 |
| 6-month return | +64.5% | +25.9% | 3rd highest of 15 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -6.5% | -16.8% | 4th highest of 15 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +0.7% | -1.2% | 6th highest of 12 |
| Operating margin | 9.6% | 3.4% | 5th highest of 13 |
| Forward P/E | 18.2× | 23.5× | 3rd cheapest of 9 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 16.3% | 22.1% | 4th least demanding of 10 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +24.2% | +6.6% | 3rd highest of 10 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -7.8 pp | +6.8 pp | 4th least demanding of 10 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -4.5 pp | -2.6 pp | 5th lowest of 10 |
| EV / EBITDA | 15.0× | 21.1× | 2nd cheapest of 7 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.2× | -0.7× | 4th most indebted of 9 |
| Bond spread | 101 bp | n/a | — |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ICON ICLR | United States | $15.3B | +64% | +1% | 10% | 18.2× | 16.3% | +24.2% |
| Charles River Laboratories CRL | United States | $16.1B | +90% | -1% | 15% | 26.6× | 25.3% | +6.6% |
| Medpace MEDP | United States | $18.3B | +54% | +20% | 21% | 33.9× | 22.1% | +22.3% |
| WuXi XDC Cayman 2268.HK | Hong Kong | $11.4B | +23% | +42% | 28% | 39.5× | 22.0% | +126.4% |
| Eisai 4523.T | Japan | $8.68B | +4% | +7% | 5% | 24.2× | 11.8% | +5.0% |
| Progyny PGNY | United States | $2.67B | +47% | +6% | 9% | 22.7× | 10.4% | +30.2% |
| Fortrea FTRE | United States | $2.12B | +42% | -3% | 2% | 22.8× | 32.9% | +1.1% |
| Silence Therapeutics PLC Sponsored ADR SLN | United States | $1.23B | +184% | -97% | -10,478% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| OmniAb OABI | United States | $734M | +29% | +91% | -116% | n/a | 59.6% | -31.9% |
| Evotec EVT.DE | Germany | $630M | -33% | -8% | -19% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Adlai Nortye Ltd. Sponsored ADR ANL | United States | $619M | -23% | n/a | -134% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| SBC Medical SBC | United States | $518M | +58% | -7% | 37% | 10.3× | -16.1% | -6.9% |
| Evolent Health EVH | United States | $518M | +10% | -4% | -1% | 12.1× | 22.6% | +15.2% |
| Oculis OCS | United States | $462M | -77% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Tectonic Therapeutic TECX | United States | $403M | -29% | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
ICON has 3 bonds outstanding with $2.25B face value. The agencies rate it BBB-; its bonds trade like BBB. Weighted yield 5.65%, a spread of 101 bp over government bonds.
ICON reported $16.4B of remaining performance obligations at 30 Sep 2026, up 17% from a year earlier and up 4% from the previous quarter. That is 2.0 years of trailing revenue already under contract. Book-to-bill last quarter: 1.35.