ICLR vs SHC vs IQV Stock Comparison

Icon, Sotera Health and Iqvia Holdings Prices as of Oct 27, 2026 Peers: Industry group
ICLR Icon Plc
$182.98 +6.2% 1M +0.5% 1Y
Market cap
$14.01B
P/E
32.0x
Revenue (TTM)
$8.23B
Div. yield
–
Contract Research Healthcare
4 wins
SHC Sotera Health Co
$18.49 +0.8% 1M +10.7% 1Y
Market cap
$5.28B
P/E
32.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.22B
Div. yield
–
Diagnostic Labs Healthcare
3 wins
IQV Iqvia Holdings Inc.
$271.68 +0.7% 1M +25.0% 1Y
Market cap
$44.77B
P/E
32.1x
Revenue (TTM)
$17.31B
Div. yield
–
Contract Research Healthcare
4 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

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

QuestionICLRSHCIQVLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $14.01B $5.28B $44.77B IQV
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 32.0x 32.3x 32.1x ICLR
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 17.9x 20.1x 22.4x ICLR
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +1.8% +8.1% +8.8% IQV
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 5.4% 13.4% 8.1% SHC
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 4.7% 9.1% 8.2% SHC
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 2.3x 3.3x 3.9x ICLR
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield — — — –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +0.5% +10.7% +25.0% IQV
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -8.6%/yr -5.8%/yr +1.1%/yr IQV
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 73.7% 28.4% 40.3% SHC
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 81/100 59/100 71/100 ICLR

Percentile Scorecard

ICLRSHCIQV

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

AxisICLRSHCIQV
Valuation 100 #1 of 11 52 #45 of 92 80 #3 of 11
Growth 70 #4 of 11 66 #30 of 87 80 #3 of 11
Profitability 80 #3 of 11 82 #16 of 86 90 #2 of 11
Financial Health 75 #4 of 13 37 #62 of 97 33 #9 of 13
Shareholder Returns – – –
Overall 81 59 71
  • ICLR ranked among 13 companies in Pharma Services
  • SHC ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers
  • IQV ranked among 13 companies in Pharma Services

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodICLRSHCIQVSPY
1 month +6.2%+0.8%+0.7% -0.2%
3 months +1.5%+4.1%+11.7% +3.9%
6 months +78.5%+19.0%+70.9% +8.2%
Year to date +0.4%+4.8%+20.5% +12.9%
1 year +0.5%+10.7%+25.0% +12.3%
3 years -22.2%+47.8%+51.0% +87.4%
3 years, per year -8.0%+13.9%+14.7% +23.3%
5 years -36.1%-25.6%+5.6% +67.9%
5 years, per year -8.6%-5.8%+1.1% +10.9%
10 years +127.4%—+276.8% +261.1%
10 years, per year +8.6%—+14.2% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureICLRSHCIQVSPY
Volatility, 1Y 73.7%28.4%40.3% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 87.6%27.0%39.2% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.441.010.74 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.010.380.62 0.97
Max drawdown, 5Y -76.9%-78.2%-51.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -9.8%-5.5%-2.8% -1.2%
52-week high $202.92$19.57$279.38 $779.14
52-week low $80.08$13.13$156.66 $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.

MultipleICLRSHCIQV
P/E now vs peer median 32.0xmedian 32.1x 32.3xmedian 24.6x 32.1xmedian 32.1x
P/S now vs peer median 1.7xmedian 2.6x 4.3xmedian 1.6x 2.6xmedian 2.6x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 15.2xmedian 38.1x 13.0xmedian 14.6x 16.9xmedian 38.1x
P/FCF now vs peer median 16.3xmedian 21.5x 46.8xmedian 21.6x 21.5xmedian 21.5x
P/B now vs peer median 1.5xmedian 3.1x 7.9xmedian 3.2x 6.6xmedian 3.1x
PEG now vs peer median -13.47median 2.03 0.86median 0.66 2.78median 2.03

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 monthsICLRSHCIQV
Revenue $8.23B $1.22B $17.31B
Gross profit $1.93B $668.51M $5.72B
Operating income $718.25M $411.34M $2.22B
Net income $448.66M $163.48M $1.40B
Free cash flow $857.06M $112.70M $2.08B
EPS (diluted) $5.68 $0.57 $8.35
Cash & equivalents $808.98M $356.72M $2.25B
Total debt $3.38B $2.14B $16.07B
Shares (diluted) 78.97M 288.15M 167.00M
Enterprise value $10.78B $3.96B $36.16B

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
MetricICLRSHCIQV
P/E 32.0x 32.3x 32.1x
P/FCF 16.3x 46.8x 21.5x
P/Operating cash flow 13.6x 18.1x 16.4x
P/S 1.7x 4.3x 2.6x
P/B 1.5x 7.9x 6.6x
P/Tangible book 2.3x 13.3x 21.8x
EV/EBITDA 15.2x 13.0x 16.9x
EV/EBIT 23.1x 17.2x 26.3x
EV/Revenue 2.0x 5.8x 3.4x
EV/FCF 19.3x 62.6x 28.1x
EV/Operating cash flow 16.1x 24.2x 21.4x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -13.47 0.86 2.78

Growth

14 metrics
MetricICLRSHCIQV
Revenue growth (1Y) 1.8% 8.1% 8.8%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 0.9% 7.6% 5.2%
Gross profit growth (1Y) -13.4% 7.1% 6.6%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) -6.5% 8.1% 3.4%
Operating income growth (1Y) 53.9% 21.8% 1.7%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -7.0% 23.2% 6.2%
Net income growth (1Y) 55.9% 580.5% 9.0%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -4.4% 37.7% 7.8%
EPS growth (1Y) 30.1% 574.9% 11.7%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -2.4% 37.5% 11.5%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -9.9% 9.8% -2.4%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 15.8% 61.3% 11.7%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -11.1% 0.0% -6.0%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 18.4% 32.6% 16.3%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricICLRSHCIQV
Gross margin 23.4% 55.0% 33.1%
EBITDA margin 13.3% 44.6% 20.0%
Operating margin 8.7% 33.8% 12.8%
Pretax margin 6.3% 21.7% 9.0%
Net margin 5.4% 13.4% 8.1%
FCF margin 10.4% 9.3% 12.0%
Operating cash flow margin 12.5% 24.0% 15.8%
Return on equity 7.6% 25.4% 21.4%
Return on assets 4.3% 5.0% 4.6%
Return on invested capital 4.7% 9.1% 8.2%
Return on capital employed 5.3% 13.5% 9.9%
Asset turnover 0.5x 0.4x 0.6x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 2.3x 1.8x 2.0x
Stock comp / revenue 1.1% 3.1% 1.8%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricICLRSHCIQV
Debt / assets 20.8% 64.7% 52.7%
Debt / equity 0.4x 3.2x 2.4x
Net debt / EBITDA 2.3x 3.3x 3.9x
Debt / FCF 3.9x 19.0x 7.7x
Liabilities / assets 43.8% 79.9% 77.7%
Equity / assets 56.2% 20.1% 22.3%
Interest coverage 3.4x – 2.8x
Current ratio 1.3x 2.8x 0.8x
Quick ratio 0.9x 2.4x 1.0x
Cash ratio 0.3x 1.5x 0.3x
Altman Z-score 2.07 1.94 2.27

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricICLRSHCIQV
Dividend yield – – –
Net buyback yield 2.7% – 2.6%
Shareholder yield 2.7% – 2.6%
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.

ConsensusICLRSHCIQV
Forward P/E 17.9xFY2026 20.1xFY2026 22.4xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $10.25FY2026 $0.92FY2026 $12.14FY2026
EPS growth, next FY -18.2%FY2026 +7.0%FY2026 +1.8%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +22.2% +21.7% +13.3%
Revenue, next fiscal year $8.52BFY2026 $1.33BFY2026 $18.58BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +3.2%FY2026 +14.8%FY2026 +13.9%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after -3.2% -4.2% -3.5%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersICLRSHCIQV
Held by institutions 100.0% 100.0% 94.1%
Institutions holding 422 316 1,083
Change in shares held, QoQ +5.5% +5.9% +0.3%
Institutions buying 233 220 530
Institutions selling 138 64 424
Buyers to sellers 1.69 3.44 1.25

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.

ICLRSHCIQV
ICLR 1.00 0.32 0.55
SHC 0.32 1.00 0.45
IQV 0.55 0.45 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ICLR, SHC and IQV?

Iqvia Holdings (IQV) is the largest by market capitalisation: Icon (ICLR) $14.01B, Sotera Health (SHC) $5.28B, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) $44.77B.

Which stock is cheaper, ICLR, SHC and IQV?

Icon (ICLR) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Icon (ICLR) 32.0x, Sotera Health (SHC) 32.3x, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) 32.1x). On next year's consensus earnings, Icon (ICLR) is cheapest (Icon (ICLR) 17.9x, Sotera Health (SHC) 20.1x, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) 22.4x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Iqvia Holdings (IQV) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Icon (ICLR) +1.8%, Sotera Health (SHC) +8.1%, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) +8.8%.

Which company is more profitable?

Sotera Health (SHC) has the highest net margin (Icon (ICLR) 5.4%, Sotera Health (SHC) 13.4%, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) 8.1%). On return on invested capital, Sotera Health (SHC) leads (Icon (ICLR) 4.7%, Sotera Health (SHC) 9.1%, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) 8.2%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Iqvia Holdings (IQV) returned the most: Icon (ICLR) +0.5%, Sotera Health (SHC) +10.7%, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) +25.0%. Over five years, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) compounded fastest (Icon (ICLR) -8.6%/yr, Sotera Health (SHC) -5.8%/yr, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) +1.1%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Sotera Health (SHC) has been the steadiest (Icon (ICLR) 73.7%, Sotera Health (SHC) 28.4%, Iqvia Holdings (IQV) 40.3%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

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

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.