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ICON (ICRL) Gains From Strategic Acquisitions, Innovation
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ICON’s (ICLR - Free Report) focus on Patient Access & Engagement strategy is a major tailwind along with partnerships and acquisitions. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) currently.
ICON is gaining from its focused patient, site and data strategy, which is helping it to improve site identification, study placement and patient recruitment and retention. In this regard, Accellacare, ICON's global clinical research network, is successfully offering customers a wide range of stand-alone and integrated solutions at the site or in patients' homes as part of decentralized trials.
The Accellacare Site Network encompasses more than 76 sites across six countries covering the United States and Europe. Accellacare offers a quality-focused clinical research infrastructure that delivers value and benefits to sponsors.
One of the key strategic moves ICON implemented in 2024 was a focused rebranding of its specialized biotech solutions division, ICON Biotech. The firm recognized an opportunity to strengthen its market position in the biotech space with clients who had previously associated ICON with a large pharmaceutical focus. It is worth noting that ICON Biotech is the world's largest dedicated biotech CRO, with roughly 8,000 employees who are solely focused on that industry and understand the specific demands of the biotech customers it serves.
In addition to its focused efforts within the biotech segment, ICON continues to drive forward its leadership in large pharma. In line with this, in the first quarter of 2024, ICON successfully renewed its longstanding Top 20 pharma partnership, primarily utilizing full-service solutions. The renewal reinforces the company’s strong delivery history of execution for this important customer and the collective team's collaboration to drive efficiency across the development portfolio.
ICON is committed to expanding its business through strategic acquisitions and partnerships with existing customers while also developing new customer relationships. To support this objective, ICON continues to evolve its collaboration and delivery models, invest in technology that will enable closer data integration across service areas and enhance its project and program management capabilities. ICON continues to improve its scientific and therapeutic expertise to support its customers in specific areas, including oncology, rare diseases, dermatology, infectious disease and women's health.
In January 2024, ICON closed the previously announced acquisition of HumanFirst — a leader in the field of digital health technology selection. This vital capability is strategically aligned with the company’s approach to provide an enhanced integrated offering. The combination of its leading clinical outcome assessment capabilities and digital health technology selection allows customers to optimize clinical trial design and improve data collection quality.
Added to this, ICON emphasizes innovation and advancement that can help its customers improve their development outcomes. The company is focusing this innovation on three critical areas — improving clinical trial design and execution, faster and more predictable patient recruitment, and evolving clinical trials to be more patient-centric, which includes data collection and analysis directly from patients’ digital devices. The company’s approach to developing solutions involves partnerships with best-in-class technology providers and is also supported by a suite of differentiated ICON proprietary technologies.
To support this objective, the company recently introduced the newest version of the ICON digital platform — an end-to-end solution to enable patient-centric decentralized clinical trials. This latest release includes updates to essential features such as direct data capture while also integrating with several other Icon solutions, such as the Firecrest portal for site training and communications, as well as the Mapi Research Trust, market-leading clinical outcomes assessment library and other validated instruments.
On the flip side, inflation and rising labor costs may result in significant increases in the cost of ICON services, which it may not be able to recover from its customers. The company’s contracts with clients are often fixed-price or fixed-price-per-unit contracts. If macroeconomic forces, such as inflation, cause the cost of inputs required to deliver these contracts to increase significantly, the company may be unable to pass along these costs to its customers. A sustained increase in these costs may require ICON to increase the price of future service offerings. These actions could adversely impact ICON's future revenues, gross margin or both.
In the first quarter of 2024, ICON registered an increase of 2.4% in direct cost.
Foreign exchange is a major headwind for ICON as it prepares its financial statements in the United States in dollars while the local results of a certain number of its subsidiaries are prepared in currencies other than United States dollars, such as the pound sterling and the euro. In addition, the company's contracts with clients are sometimes denominated in currencies other than the dollar. Finally, the company is exposed to a wider variety of currencies in the expenses line due to most expenses being incurred in the local currencies where its global operations are based. Accordingly, changes in exchange rates between the United States dollar and other currencies could have a material adverse impact on the company’s financial results.
In 2023, ICON registered a foreign currency exchange translation loss of $12.9 million.
Hims & Hers Heath stock has surged 136.7% in the past year. Estimates for the company’s earnings have risen from 11 cents to 18 cents for 2024 and from 25 cents to 33 cents for 2025 in the past 30 days.
HIMS’ earnings beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed in one, delivering an average surprise of 79.2%. In the last reported quarter, it posted an earnings surprise of a staggering 150%.
Estimates for Medpace’s 2024 earnings per share have moved up to $11.29 from $11.23 in the past 30 days. Shares of the company have surged 85.6% in the past year compared with the industry’s 4.9% growth.
MEDP’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 12.8%. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 30.6%.
Estimates for ResMed’s fiscal 2024 earnings per share have moved to $7.70 from $7.64 in the past 30 days. Shares of the company have declined 3.9% in the past year against the industry’s rise of 3.2%.
RMD’s earnings surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed in one, the average surprise being 2.8%. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 10.9%.
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ICON (ICRL) Gains From Strategic Acquisitions, Innovation
ICON’s (ICLR - Free Report) focus on Patient Access & Engagement strategy is a major tailwind along with partnerships and acquisitions. The stock carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) currently.
ICON is gaining from its focused patient, site and data strategy, which is helping it to improve site identification, study placement and patient recruitment and retention. In this regard, Accellacare, ICON's global clinical research network, is successfully offering customers a wide range of stand-alone and integrated solutions at the site or in patients' homes as part of decentralized trials.
The Accellacare Site Network encompasses more than 76 sites across six countries covering the United States and Europe. Accellacare offers a quality-focused clinical research infrastructure that delivers value and benefits to sponsors.
One of the key strategic moves ICON implemented in 2024 was a focused rebranding of its specialized biotech solutions division, ICON Biotech. The firm recognized an opportunity to strengthen its market position in the biotech space with clients who had previously associated ICON with a large pharmaceutical focus. It is worth noting that ICON Biotech is the world's largest dedicated biotech CRO, with roughly 8,000 employees who are solely focused on that industry and understand the specific demands of the biotech customers it serves.
In addition to its focused efforts within the biotech segment, ICON continues to drive forward its leadership in large pharma. In line with this, in the first quarter of 2024, ICON successfully renewed its longstanding Top 20 pharma partnership, primarily utilizing full-service solutions. The renewal reinforces the company’s strong delivery history of execution for this important customer and the collective team's collaboration to drive efficiency across the development portfolio.
ICON PLC Price
ICON PLC price | ICON PLC Quote
ICON is committed to expanding its business through strategic acquisitions and partnerships with existing customers while also developing new customer relationships. To support this objective, ICON continues to evolve its collaboration and delivery models, invest in technology that will enable closer data integration across service areas and enhance its project and program management capabilities. ICON continues to improve its scientific and therapeutic expertise to support its customers in specific areas, including oncology, rare diseases, dermatology, infectious disease and women's health.
In January 2024, ICON closed the previously announced acquisition of HumanFirst — a leader in the field of digital health technology selection. This vital capability is strategically aligned with the company’s approach to provide an enhanced integrated offering. The combination of its leading clinical outcome assessment capabilities and digital health technology selection allows customers to optimize clinical trial design and improve data collection quality.
Added to this, ICON emphasizes innovation and advancement that can help its customers improve their development outcomes. The company is focusing this innovation on three critical areas — improving clinical trial design and execution, faster and more predictable patient recruitment, and evolving clinical trials to be more patient-centric, which includes data collection and analysis directly from patients’ digital devices. The company’s approach to developing solutions involves partnerships with best-in-class technology providers and is also supported by a suite of differentiated ICON proprietary technologies.
To support this objective, the company recently introduced the newest version of the ICON digital platform — an end-to-end solution to enable patient-centric decentralized clinical trials. This latest release includes updates to essential features such as direct data capture while also integrating with several other Icon solutions, such as the Firecrest portal for site training and communications, as well as the Mapi Research Trust, market-leading clinical outcomes assessment library and other validated instruments.
On the flip side, inflation and rising labor costs may result in significant increases in the cost of ICON services, which it may not be able to recover from its customers. The company’s contracts with clients are often fixed-price or fixed-price-per-unit contracts. If macroeconomic forces, such as inflation, cause the cost of inputs required to deliver these contracts to increase significantly, the company may be unable to pass along these costs to its customers. A sustained increase in these costs may require ICON to increase the price of future service offerings. These actions could adversely impact ICON's future revenues, gross margin or both.
In the first quarter of 2024, ICON registered an increase of 2.4% in direct cost.
Foreign exchange is a major headwind for ICON as it prepares its financial statements in the United States in dollars while the local results of a certain number of its subsidiaries are prepared in currencies other than United States dollars, such as the pound sterling and the euro. In addition, the company's contracts with clients are sometimes denominated in currencies other than the dollar. Finally, the company is exposed to a wider variety of currencies in the expenses line due to most expenses being incurred in the local currencies where its global operations are based. Accordingly, changes in exchange rates between the United States dollar and other currencies could have a material adverse impact on the company’s financial results.
In 2023, ICON registered a foreign currency exchange translation loss of $12.9 million.
Other Key Picks
Some other top-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Hims & Hers Health (HIMS - Free Report) , Medpace (MEDP - Free Report) and ResMed (RMD - Free Report) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.
Hims & Hers Heath stock has surged 136.7% in the past year. Estimates for the company’s earnings have risen from 11 cents to 18 cents for 2024 and from 25 cents to 33 cents for 2025 in the past 30 days.
HIMS’ earnings beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed in one, delivering an average surprise of 79.2%. In the last reported quarter, it posted an earnings surprise of a staggering 150%.
Estimates for Medpace’s 2024 earnings per share have moved up to $11.29 from $11.23 in the past 30 days. Shares of the company have surged 85.6% in the past year compared with the industry’s 4.9% growth.
MEDP’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 12.8%. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 30.6%.
Estimates for ResMed’s fiscal 2024 earnings per share have moved to $7.70 from $7.64 in the past 30 days. Shares of the company have declined 3.9% in the past year against the industry’s rise of 3.2%.
RMD’s earnings surpassed estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed in one, the average surprise being 2.8%. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 10.9%.