ICLR vs IQV vs WDH Stock Comparison

Icon, Iqvia Holdings and Waterdrop Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
ICLR Icon Plc
$215.48 +26.5% 1M +29.8% 1Y
Market cap
$16.50B
P/E
37.7x
Revenue (TTM)
$8.23B
Div. yield
–
Contract Research Healthcare
3 wins
IQV Iqvia Holdings Inc.
$274.96 +2.2% 1M +26.2% 1Y
Market cap
$45.31B
P/E
32.5x
Revenue (TTM)
$17.31B
Div. yield
–
Contract Research Healthcare
4 wins
WDH Waterdrop Inc.
$1.00 -2.0% 1M -41.9% 1Y
Market cap
$360.88M
P/E
6.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$732.27M
Div. yield
6.00%
Insurance Brokers Financial Services
4 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Iqvia Holdings leads on 4 of the 12 questions below (Iqvia Holdings 4, Waterdrop 4, Icon 3). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionICLRIQVWDHLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $16.50B $45.31B $360.88M IQV
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 37.7x 32.5x 6.3x WDH
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 21.0x 22.6x 11.1x WDH
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +1.8% +8.8% +76.3% WDH
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 5.4% 8.1% 7.8% IQV
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 4.7% 8.2% 6.8% IQV
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 2.3x 3.9x — ICLR
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield — — 6.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +29.8% +26.2% -41.9% ICLR
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -5.6%/yr +1.0%/yr -13.1%/yr IQV
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 75.0% 40.4% 37.1% WDH
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 81/100 71/100 79/100 ICLR

Percentile Scorecard

ICLRIQVWDH

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

AxisICLRIQVWDH
Valuation 100 #1 of 11 80 #3 of 11 96 #6 of 119
Growth 70 #4 of 11 80 #3 of 11 74 #30 of 114
Profitability 80 #3 of 11 90 #2 of 11 48 #56 of 106
Financial Health 75 #4 of 13 33 #9 of 13 85 #17 of 104
Shareholder Returns – – 92 #9 of 105
Overall 81 71 79
  • ICLR ranked among 13 companies in Pharma Services
  • IQV ranked among 13 companies in Pharma Services
  • WDH ranked among 126 companies in Insurance

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodICLRIQVWDHSPY
1 month +26.5%+2.2%-2.0% +0.7%
3 months +30.2%+15.6%-11.5% +3.7%
6 months +82.1%+73.6%-40.5% +7.1%
Year to date +18.3%+22.0%-47.4% +12.8%
1 year +29.8%+26.2%-41.9% +11.9%
3 years -9.5%+55.2%-2.0% +85.2%
3 years, per year -3.3%+15.8%-0.7% +22.8%
5 years -24.9%+5.2%-50.5% +67.6%
5 years, per year -5.6%+1.0%-13.1% +10.9%
10 years +168.3%+283.1%— +262.0%
10 years, per year +10.4%+14.4%— +13.7%

Risk

MeasureICLRIQVWDHSPY
Volatility, 1Y 75.0%40.4%37.1% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 87.7%39.3%42.2% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.470.740.82 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.400.65-1.13 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -76.9%-51.5%-71.7% -25.4%
From 52-week high 0.0%-1.6%-48.7% -1.2%
52-week high $215.48$279.38$1.95 $779.14
52-week low $80.08$156.66$0.97 $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.

MultipleICLRIQVWDH
P/E now vs peer median 37.7xmedian 36.6x 32.5xmedian 36.6x 6.3xmedian 10.7x
P/S now vs peer median 2.0xmedian 2.6x 2.6xmedian 2.6x 0.5xmedian 1.4x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 17.4xmedian 31.1x 17.0xmedian 31.1x —median 7.5x
P/FCF now vs peer median 19.3xmedian 21.8x 21.8xmedian 21.8x —median 8.5x
P/B now vs peer median 1.8xmedian 3.1x 6.7xmedian 3.1x 0.5xmedian 1.5x
PEG now vs peer median -15.86median 2.05 2.82median 2.05 1.08median 0.60

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 monthsICLRIQVWDH
Revenue $8.23B $17.31B $732.27M
Gross profit $1.93B $5.72B –
Operating income $718.25M $2.22B $55.97M
Net income $448.66M $1.40B $78.34M
Free cash flow $857.06M $2.08B –
R&D – – $36.89M
EPS (diluted) $5.68 $8.35 $0.15
Cash & equivalents $808.98M $2.25B $154.67M
Total debt $3.38B $16.07B $125.58M
Shares (diluted) 78.97M 167.00M 371.35M
Enterprise value $13.27B $36.70B -$284.72M

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
MetricICLRIQVWDH
P/E 37.7x 32.5x 6.3x
P/FCF 19.3x 21.8x –
P/Operating cash flow 16.1x 16.6x –
P/S 2.0x 2.6x 0.5x
P/B 1.8x 6.7x 0.5x
P/Tangible book 2.7x 22.1x 0.5x
EV/EBITDA 17.4x 17.0x –
EV/EBIT 26.5x 26.6x 4.4x
EV/Revenue 2.3x 3.4x 0.3x
EV/FCF 22.2x 28.4x –
EV/Operating cash flow 18.6x 21.5x –
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -15.86 2.82 1.08

Growth

14 metrics
MetricICLRIQVWDH
Revenue growth (1Y) 1.8% 8.8% 76.3%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 0.9% 5.2% 23.5%
Gross profit growth (1Y) -13.4% 6.6% –
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) -6.5% 3.4% –
Operating income growth (1Y) 53.9% 1.7% 59.6%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -7.0% 6.2% 30.9%
Net income growth (1Y) 55.9% 9.0% 30.5%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -4.4% 7.8% 14.8%
EPS growth (1Y) 30.1% 11.7% 14.0%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -2.4% 11.5% 5.8%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -9.9% -2.4% –
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 15.8% 11.7% –
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -11.1% -6.0% –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 18.4% 16.3% –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricICLRIQVWDH
Gross margin 23.4% 33.1% –
EBITDA margin 13.3% 20.0% –
Operating margin 8.7% 12.8% 7.6%
Pretax margin 6.3% 9.0% 10.5%
Net margin 5.4% 8.1% 7.8%
FCF margin 10.4% 12.0% –
Operating cash flow margin 12.5% 15.8% –
Return on equity 7.6% 21.4% 10.2%
Return on assets 4.3% 4.6% 6.9%
Return on invested capital 4.7% 8.2% 6.8%
Return on capital employed 5.3% 9.9% 7.2%
Asset turnover 0.5x 0.6x 0.6x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 2.3x 2.0x –
Stock comp / revenue 1.1% 1.8% –

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricICLRIQVWDH
Debt / assets 20.8% 52.7% 6.0%
Debt / equity 0.4x 2.4x 0.1x
Net debt / EBITDA 2.3x 3.9x –
Debt / FCF 3.9x 7.7x –
Liabilities / assets 43.8% 77.7% 32.6%
Equity / assets 56.2% 22.3% 67.4%
Interest coverage 3.4x 2.8x –
Current ratio 1.3x 0.8x 2.2x
Quick ratio 0.9x 1.0x 1.4x
Cash ratio 0.3x 0.3x 0.5x
Altman Z-score 2.28 2.29 1.55

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricICLRIQVWDH
Dividend yield – – 6.0%
Net buyback yield 2.3% 2.6% –
Shareholder yield 2.3% 2.6% 6.0%
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.

ConsensusICLRIQVWDH
Forward P/E 21.0xFY2026 22.6xFY2026 11.1xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $10.25FY2026 $12.14FY2026 $0.09FY2026
EPS growth, next FY -18.2%FY2026 +1.8%FY2026 +350.0%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +22.2% +13.3% +44.4%
Revenue, next fiscal year $8.52BFY2026 $18.58BFY2026 $798.56MFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +3.2%FY2026 +13.9%FY2026 +40.4%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after -3.2% -3.5% +32.0%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersICLRIQVWDH
Held by institutions 100.0% 94.1% 6.9%
Institutions holding 423 1,084 40
Change in shares held, QoQ +5.5% +0.3% +1.8%
Institutions buying 234 531 18
Institutions selling 138 424 8
Buyers to sellers 1.70 1.25 2.25

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.

ICLRIQVWDH
ICLR 1.00 0.55 0.03
IQV 0.55 1.00 -0.05
WDH 0.03 -0.05 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ICLR, IQV and WDH?

Iqvia Holdings (IQV) is the largest by market capitalisation: Icon (ICLR) $16.50B, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) $45.31B, Waterdrop (WDH) $360.88M.

Which stock is cheaper, ICLR, IQV and WDH?

Waterdrop (WDH) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Icon (ICLR) 37.7x, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) 32.5x, Waterdrop (WDH) 6.3x). On next year's consensus earnings, Waterdrop (WDH) is cheapest (Icon (ICLR) 21.0x, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) 22.6x, Waterdrop (WDH) 11.1x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Waterdrop (WDH) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Icon (ICLR) +1.8%, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) +8.8%, Waterdrop (WDH) +76.3%.

Which company is more profitable?

Iqvia Holdings (IQV) has the highest net margin (Icon (ICLR) 5.4%, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) 8.1%, Waterdrop (WDH) 7.8%). On return on invested capital, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) leads (Icon (ICLR) 4.7%, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) 8.2%, Waterdrop (WDH) 6.8%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Icon (ICLR) returned the most: Icon (ICLR) +29.8%, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) +26.2%, Waterdrop (WDH) -41.9%. Over five years, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) compounded fastest (Icon (ICLR) -5.6%/yr, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) +1.0%/yr, Waterdrop (WDH) -13.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Only one of these companies pays a dividend: Waterdrop (WDH) 6.00%. Icon (ICLR) and Iqvia Holdings (IQV) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Waterdrop (WDH) has been the steadiest (Icon (ICLR) 75.0%, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) 40.4%, Waterdrop (WDH) 37.1%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, ICLR, IQV and WDH?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) leads on 4. 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.