GH vs ICLR Stock Comparison

Guardant Health and Icon Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
GH Guardant Health, Inc.
$173.25 -2.3% 1M +140.1% 1Y
Market cap
$23.15B
P/E
–
Revenue (TTM)
$1.18B
Div. yield
–
Diagnostic Labs Healthcare
5 wins
ICLR Icon Plc
$183.78 +6.6% 1M +3.2% 1Y
Market cap
$14.07B
P/E
43.8x
Revenue (TTM)
$8.33B
Div. yield
–
Contract Research Healthcare
2 wins

Head to Head

7 decided of 12

Guardant Health leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Guardant Health 5, Icon 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionGHICLRLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $23.15B $14.07B GH
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only -50.8x 43.8x –
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS — 17.9x –
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +42.7% +3.7% GH
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months -38.3% 3.9% ICLR
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — 1.3% –
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — 3.5x –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield — — –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +140.1% +3.2% GH
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years +9.1%/yr -8.2%/yr GH
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 57.4% 73.8% GH
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 26/100 65/100 ICLR

Percentile Scorecard

GHICLR

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisGHICLR
Valuation 30 #20 of 28 92 #33 of 396
Growth 35 #16 of 24 25 #272 of 363
Profitability 5 #21 of 22 80 #65 of 325
Financial Health 59 #15 of 35 38 #271 of 437
Shareholder Returns 0 #11 of 11 89 #20 of 179
Overall 26 65
  • GH ranked among 36 companies in Healthcare Providers
  • ICLR ranked among 451 companies in Healthcare

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodGHICLRSPY
1 month -2.3%+6.6% -0.8%
3 months +19.1%+8.9% +3.5%
6 months +95.8%+78.1% +7.0%
Year to date +69.6%+0.9% +12.2%
1 year +140.1%+3.2% +13.0%
3 years +594.1%-21.9% +86.3%
3 years, per year +90.8%-7.9% +23.1%
5 years +54.3%-34.8% +68.6%
5 years, per year +9.1%-8.2% +11.0%
10 years —+125.7% +258.0%
10 years, per year —+8.5% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureGHICLRSPY
Volatility, 1Y 57.4%73.8% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 48.7%87.9% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.021.45 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 2.440.04 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -86.7%-76.9% -25.4%
From 52-week high -7.5%-9.4% -1.8%
52-week high $187.22$202.92 $779.14
52-week low $69.58$80.08 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleGHICLR
P/E now vs peer median -50.8xmedian 17.7x 43.8xmedian 19.7x
P/S now vs peer median 19.6xmedian 1.3x 1.7xmedian 3.4x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median -51.2xmedian 17.4x 23.5xmedian 14.5x
P/FCF now vs peer median -96.2xmedian 24.8x 15.9xmedian 16.3x
P/B now vs peer median -103.9xmedian 2.7x 1.5xmedian 1.5x
PEG now vs peer median -5.11median 0.58 -3.55median 0.41

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsGHICLR
Revenue $1.18B $8.33B
Gross profit $769.16M $2.01B
Operating income -$470.26M $325.64M
Net income -$453.44M $69.55M
Free cash flow -$240.72M $883.82M
R&D $375.79M –
EPS (diluted) $-3.41 $4.16
Cash & equivalents $1.05B $928.39M
Total debt – $13.60B
Shares (diluted) 132.87M 78.97M
Enterprise value $19.21B $11.18B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricGHICLR
P/E -50.8x 43.8x
P/FCF -96.2x 15.9x
P/Operating cash flow -125.0x 13.2x
P/S 19.6x 1.7x
P/B -103.9x 1.5x
P/Tangible book -93.3x 2.3x
EV/EBITDA -51.2x 23.5x
EV/EBIT -47.0x 50.8x
EV/Revenue 18.7x 2.0x
EV/FCF -91.8x 18.7x
EV/Operating cash flow -119.3x 15.5x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -5.11 -3.55

Growth

14 metrics
MetricGHICLR
Revenue growth (1Y) 42.7% 3.7%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 32.4% 1.8%
Gross profit growth (1Y) 47.7% -11.5%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) – -4.7%
Operating income growth (1Y) -2.1% -66.6%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) 4.8% -28.0%
Net income growth (1Y) -9.6% -91.0%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 3.7% -48.5%
EPS growth (1Y) -2.4% -59.0%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 9.9% -12.3%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) 22.4% -7.4%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 18.1% 26.1%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) 11.4% -10.7%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 14.4% 32.4%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricGHICLR
Gross margin 65.0% 24.2%
EBITDA margin -36.5% 8.4%
Operating margin -39.7% 3.9%
Pretax margin -38.4% 1.6%
Net margin -38.3% 3.9%
FCF margin -20.3% 10.6%
Operating cash flow margin -15.7% 12.8%
Return on equity – 6.4%
Return on assets -23.7% 3.7%
Return on invested capital – 1.3%
Return on capital employed -29.9% 2.6%
Asset turnover 0.6x 0.5x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 0.4x 15.4x
Stock comp / revenue 16.2% 1.4%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricGHICLR
Debt / assets – 20.7%
Debt / equity – 0.4x
Net debt / EBITDA – 3.5x
Debt / FCF – 3.8x
Liabilities / assets 111.7% 42.8%
Equity / assets -11.7% 57.2%
Interest coverage -97.6x 1.7x
Current ratio 4.0x 1.0x
Quick ratio 3.5x 0.6x
Cash ratio 3.1x 0.2x
Altman Z-score 4.59 1.96

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricGHICLR
Dividend yield – –
Net buyback yield -1.7% 1.7%
Shareholder yield -1.7% 1.7%
Payout ratio (earnings) – –
Payout ratio (FCF) – –
Dividend growth (1Y) – –
Dividend CAGR (3Y) – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusGHICLR
Forward P/E – 17.9xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $-3.34FY2026 $10.25FY2026
EPS growth, next FY – -18.2%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after – +22.2%
Revenue, next fiscal year $1.42BFY2026 $8.52BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +44.5%FY2026 +3.2%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after +27.0% -3.4%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersGHICLR
Held by institutions 100.0% 100.0%
Institutions holding 594 422
Change in shares held, QoQ -2.6% +5.5%
Institutions buying 353 233
Institutions selling 180 138
Buyers to sellers 1.96 1.69

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

GHICLR
GH 1.00 0.20
ICLR 0.20 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, GH and ICLR?

Guardant Health (GH) is the largest by market capitalisation: Guardant Health (GH) $23.15B, Icon (ICLR) $14.07B.

Which company is growing faster?

Guardant Health (GH) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Guardant Health (GH) +42.7%, Icon (ICLR) +3.7%.

Which company is more profitable?

Icon (ICLR) has the highest net margin (Guardant Health (GH) -38.3%, Icon (ICLR) 3.9%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Guardant Health (GH) returned the most: Guardant Health (GH) +140.1%, Icon (ICLR) +3.2%. Over five years, Guardant Health (GH) compounded fastest (Guardant Health (GH) +9.1%/yr, Icon (ICLR) -8.2%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Guardant Health (GH) has been the steadiest (Guardant Health (GH) 57.4%, Icon (ICLR) 73.8%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Do GH and ICLR move together?

Their daily returns over the past year have a correlation of 0.20, a weak relationship. Holding both diversifies more than two closely linked stocks would.

Which is the better stock, GH and ICLR?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Guardant Health (GH) leads on 5. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.