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Contract research (CRO)

The 10 companies in this industry listed on the NYSE and Nasdaq are worth $93 bn combined; the largest are IQVIA Holdings (IQV), Medpace Holdings (MEDP) and Charles River Laboratories (CRL). For each one: what it does, revenue, margin, free cash flow over the last five years and a score from 0 to 10.

Data as of October 2026

Comfortable leader
10 companies value 93 bn revenue 36 bn margin 3.8% free cash flow 4.3 bn avg. score 2.7
IQV holds 47.3% of the group's value, 2.5x the runner-up
Rank Ticker Company Share Value Revenue Margin FCF 5 years FCF/px Yield What it does · why it is here
1 IQV IQVIA Holdings
United States · score 5.3
 47% 44 bn 17 bn 8.1% 2.2 bn 5.0% — Clinical research, data and commercial services for drugmakers · World's largest CRO: runs clinical trials and holds the largest healthcare database
2 MEDP Medpace Holdings
United States · score 6.6
 19% 17 bn 2.8 bn 17.7% 0.7 bn 4.1% — Contract clinical research for biotech · Midsize CRO with the sector's highest margin and best growth record
3 CRL Charles River Laboratories
United States · score 2.9
 16% 14 bn 4.0 bn -6.0% 0.4 bn 2.6% — Preclinical research and research models for drugmakers · Leader in research models and preclinical testing; a bottleneck of drug research
4 ICLR ICON plc
Ireland · score 5.5
 14% 13 bn 8.3 bn 0.5% 0.9 bn 6.9% — Contract clinical research, from Ireland · 2nd largest global CRO, with a strong presence among midsize drugmakers
5 FTRE Fortrea Holdings Inc.
United States · score 2.7
 2% 2.1 bn 2.7 bn -3.2% 0.2 bn 9.2% — Global contract clinical research organization · North Carolina — revenue of $2.7bn
6 CERT Certara, Inc.
United States · score 3.7
 2% 1.4 bn 0.4 bn -16.2% 0.1 bn 5.6% — Biosimulation and consulting for drug development · Pennsylvania — revenue of $422m
7 EVO Evotec SE
Germany · score 0.0
 1% 0.5 bn 0.9 bn -13.1% -0.1 bn -18.2% — Contract drug discovery and development, from Germany · Germany — revenue of $884m
8 CSBR CHAMPIONS ONCOLOGY, INC.
United States · score 0.0
 0% 0.1 bn 0.1 bn -1.9% -0.0 bn -9.4% — Technology-enabled research organization for drug discovery · Maryland — revenue of $61m
9 HYFT MindWalk Holdings Corp.
United States · score 0.0
 0% 0.1 bn 0.0 bn -105.2% -0.0 bn -14.4% — Discovery of antibodies and other biologic drugs using AI and its own lab, for pharmaceutical companies · United States — revenue of $12m
10 VIVS VivoSim Labs, INC.
United States · score 0.0
 0% 0.0 bn 0.0 bn — -0.0 bn -374.9% — Drug testing on 3D liver and intestine models · California

Other industries in the same sector

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What this is. A catalogue, not a guide. Every industry with stocks listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ, the companies contending for its leadership, what each one does according to its own annual report, and the balance sheet it filed with the SEC.

The score runs from 0 to 10 and compares each company with every other one in the almanac on cash generation, profitability, debt, dividends and consistency over the last five years. The higher it is, the better the company fares in that comparison. Curious how much each part weighs? Ask at the bottom of the page.

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