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Swiss contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) making biologics, small molecules and cell/gene therapies for pharma clients.
Swiss contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) making biologics, small molecules and cell/gene therapies for pharma clients.
Is paid by drug developers to produce their medicines under multi-year manufacturing agreements, often with upfront fees and minimum volumes, so revenue depends on how fully its plants are booked. Biologics, made in large bioreactors, are the core. The 2024 purchase of Genentech's Vacaville plant in California added large-scale capacity.
In one line: A Swiss Catalent/Samsung Biologics.
Moat: narrow (scale, process know-how, customer qualification). Complex, regulator-qualified biologics manufacturing capacity is costly and slow for pharma clients to replicate.
Headquarters: Basel, Switzerland · Founded: 1897 · Employees: 16,866
Size Lonza (LONN.SW) is a Switzerland Health Care company (Biotechnology) with a market value of $55.4B, the 8th largest of 158 Switzerland companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at CHF 663.40 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 38.8%, against +23.2% for the median peer and +11.6% for the Switzerland market (cap-weighted) — 7th highest of 15 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue fell 10.8% over the last twelve months (peer median +11.6%); the operating margin is 24.6% (peer median 27.3%).
Valuation It trades at 36.1× forward earnings against a peer median of 22.4× (3rd most expensive of 10).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 15% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +8%, so the hurdle is +7 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 4.4 points above its cost of capital (6.1% WACC).
Credit Lonza has 5 bonds outstanding ($3.56B), rated BBB+ by the agencies and trading like A+ at a weighted spread of 74 bp.
Next results Next results expected around 27 Jan 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | CHF 6.33B | CHF 6.53B | CHF 5.48B | CHF 6.72B | CHF 6.22B |
| Revenue growth | — | +19% | -18% | +8% | — |
| Gross profit | CHF 2.31B | CHF 2.30B | CHF 1.97B | CHF 1.82B | CHF 2.30B |
| EBITDA | CHF 2.15B | CHF 2.03B | CHF 1.56B | CHF 1.48B | CHF 1.95B |
| Net income | -CHF 110M | -CHF 275M | CHF 636M | CHF 654M | CHF 1.22B |
| Free cash flow | CHF 215M | -CHF 152M | -CHF 72.0M | -CHF 234M | -CHF 791M |
| Capital expenditure | CHF 1.23B | CHF 1.38B | CHF 1.42B | CHF 1.68B | CHF 1.87B |
| Total debt | n/a | CHF 4.54B | CHF 5.12B | CHF 3.13B | CHF 2.59B |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lonza LONN.SW | $55.4B | +39% | -11% | 25% | 36.1× | 15.0% |
| Samsung Biologics 207940.KS | $53.7B | +3% | -20% | 43% | 38.7× | 9.6% |
| Wuxi Bio 2269.HK | $25.0B | +43% | +22% | 32% | 28.7× | 21.8% |
| Thermo Fisher Scientific TMO | $257B | +50% | +8% | 19% | 25.8× | 20.9% |
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 | LONN.SW | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +17.8% | +12.3% | 3rd highest of 15 |
| 6-month return | +38.8% | +23.2% | 7th highest of 15 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -1.6% | -12.7% | 2nd highest of 15 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | -10.8% | +11.6% | 3rd lowest of 15 |
| Operating margin | 24.6% | 27.3% | 6th lowest of 15 |
| Forward P/E | 36.1× | 22.4× | 3rd most expensive of 10 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 15.0% | 8.3% | 3rd most demanding of 12 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +7.7% | +19.5% | 3rd lowest of 12 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +7.3 pp | -9.3 pp | 2nd most demanding of 12 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +4.4 pp | +2.8 pp | 6th highest of 15 |
| EV / EBITDA | 22.7× | 16.3× | 3rd most expensive of 9 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.7× | 0.4× | 4th most indebted of 9 |
| Bond spread | 74 bp | 108 bp | 2nd tightest of 5 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lonza LONN.SW | Switzerland | $55.4B | +39% | -11% | 25% | 36.1× | 15.0% | +7.7% |
| Samsung Biologics 207940.KS | South Korea | $53.7B | +3% | -20% | 43% | 38.7× | 9.6% | +31.4% |
| argenx SE Sponsored ADR ARGX | United States | $57.5B | +19% | +71% | 29% | n/a | 10.9% | +151.4% |
| CSL CSL.AX | Australia | $67.2B | +105% | -2% | 26% | 22.4× | 7.1% | +11.0% |
| Iqvia IQV | United States | $44.8B | +52% | +9% | 14% | 19.7× | 17.3% | +7.5% |
| Natera NTRA | United States | $44.8B | +60% | +38% | -11% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Celltrion 068270.KS | South Korea | $34.3B | +10% | +40% | 32% | 34.1× | 8.3% | +17.6% |
| Genmab A/S GMAB.CO | Denmark | $32.1B | +115% | +14% | 32% | 44.8× | 11.6% | +19.5% |
| Moderna MRNA | United States | $101B | +43% | -28% | -149% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Wuxi Bio 2269.HK | Hong Kong | $25.0B | +43% | +22% | 32% | 28.7× | 21.8% | +30.2% |
| United Therapeutics UTHR | United States | $24.1B | -1% | +2% | 44% | 22.0× | -0.4% | +16.5% |
| BioNTech SE Sponsored ADR BNTX | United States | $22.8B | -7% | -1% | -38% | n/a | 5.7% | +42.6% |
| Neurocrine Biosciences NBIX | United States | $16.7B | +8% | +38% | 25% | 18.2× | -1.7% | +22.3% |
| Gilead Sciences GILD | United States | $207B | +28% | +7% | 38% | 19.3× | -2.9% | +3.6% |
| BridgeBio Pharma BBIO | United States | $14.5B | +10% | +167% | -37% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Lonza has 5 bonds outstanding with $3.56B face value. The agencies rate it BBB+; its bonds trade like A+. Weighted yield 4.14%, a spread of 74 bp over government bonds.