ICLR vs WDH vs LH Stock Comparison

Icon, Waterdrop and Labcorp Holdings Prices as of Oct 29, 2026 Peers: Industry group
ICLR Icon Plc
$215.48 +26.5% 1M +29.8% 1Y
Market cap
$16.43B
P/E
36.6x
Revenue (TTM)
$8.23B
Div. yield
–
Contract Research Healthcare
1 win
WDH Waterdrop Inc.
$1.00 -2.0% 1M -41.9% 1Y
Market cap
$361.53M
P/E
6.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$732.27M
Div. yield
–
Insurance Brokers Financial Services
5 wins
LH Labcorp Holdings Inc.
$368.15 +19.2% 1M +48.4% 1Y
Market cap
$29.53B
P/E
29.4x
Revenue (TTM)
$14.59B
Div. yield
–
Diagnostic Labs Healthcare
4 wins

Head to Head

10 decided of 12

Waterdrop leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Waterdrop 5, Labcorp Holdings 4, Icon 1). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionICLRWDHLHLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $16.43B $361.53M $29.53B LH
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 36.6x 6.3x 29.4x WDH
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 21.0x 11.1x 21.6x WDH
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +1.8% +76.3% +6.0% WDH
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 5.4% 7.8% — WDH
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital 4.7% 6.8% — WDH
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA 2.3x — — –
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% –
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months +29.8% -41.9% +48.4% LH
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -5.6%/yr -13.1%/yr +8.4%/yr LH
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 75.0% 37.1% 24.3% LH
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 81/100 79/100 57/100 ICLR

Percentile Scorecard

ICLRWDHLH

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

AxisICLRWDHLH
Valuation 100 #1 of 11 96 #6 of 119 58 #39 of 92
Growth 70 #4 of 11 74 #30 of 114 35 #57 of 87
Profitability 80 #3 of 11 48 #56 of 106 71 #26 of 86
Financial Health 75 #4 of 13 85 #17 of 104 56 #43 of 97
Shareholder Returns – 92 #9 of 105 65 #20 of 55
Overall 81 79 57
  • ICLR ranked among 13 companies in Pharma Services
  • WDH ranked among 126 companies in Insurance
  • LH ranked among 102 companies in Healthcare Providers

Price Performance

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

Returns

PeriodICLRWDHLHSPY
1 month +26.5%-2.0%+19.2% +0.7%
3 months +30.2%-11.5%+16.6% +3.7%
6 months +82.1%-40.5%+43.4% +7.1%
Year to date +18.3%-47.4%+46.7% +12.8%
1 year +29.8%-41.9%+48.4% +11.9%
3 years -9.5%-2.0%+85.8% +85.2%
3 years, per year -3.3%-0.7%+23.0% +22.8%
5 years -24.9%-50.5%+49.3% +67.6%
5 years, per year -5.6%-13.1%+8.4% +10.9%
10 years +168.3%—+245.6% +262.0%
10 years, per year +10.4%—+13.2% +13.7%

Risk

MeasureICLRWDHLHSPY
Volatility, 1Y 75.0%37.1%24.3% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 87.7%42.2%21.7% 12.6%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 1.470.820.36 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y 0.40-1.131.99 0.94
Max drawdown, 5Y -76.9%-71.7%-35.0% -25.4%
From 52-week high 0.0%-48.7%0.0% -1.2%
52-week high $215.48$1.95$368.15 $779.14
52-week low $80.08$0.97$246.64 $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.

MultipleICLRWDHLH
P/E now vs peer median 37.7xmedian 36.6x 6.3xmedian 10.7x 30.0xmedian 26.0x
P/S now vs peer median 2.0xmedian 2.6x 0.5xmedian 1.4x 2.0xmedian 1.6x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 17.4xmedian 31.1x —median 7.5x —median 15.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 19.3xmedian 21.8x —median 8.5x 21.6xmedian 21.5x
P/B now vs peer median 1.8xmedian 3.1x 0.5xmedian 1.5x 3.4xmedian 3.2x
PEG now vs peer median -15.86median 2.05 1.08median 0.60 1.74median 0.87

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 monthsICLRWDHLH
Revenue $8.23B $732.27M $14.59B
Gross profit $1.93B – $4.23B
Operating income $718.25M $55.97M $1.50B
Net income $448.66M $78.34M $1.00B
Free cash flow $857.06M – –
R&D – $36.89M –
EPS (diluted) $5.68 $0.15 $12.24
Cash & equivalents $808.98M $154.67M $261.80M
Total debt $3.38B $125.58M –
Shares (diluted) 78.97M 371.35M 82.00M
Enterprise value $13.20B -$300.32M $29.53B

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
MetricICLRWDHLH
P/E 37.7x 6.3x 30.0x
P/FCF 19.3x – 21.6x
P/Operating cash flow 16.1x – 16.4x
P/S 2.0x 0.5x 2.0x
P/B 1.8x 0.5x 3.4x
P/Tangible book 2.7x 0.5x 5.8x
EV/EBITDA 17.4x – –
EV/EBIT 26.5x 4.4x –
EV/Revenue 2.3x 0.3x 2.0x
EV/FCF 22.2x – –
EV/Operating cash flow 18.6x – 16.4x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) -15.86 1.08 1.74

Growth

14 metrics
MetricICLRWDHLH
Revenue growth (1Y) 1.8% 76.3% 6.0%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 0.9% 23.5% 6.6%
Gross profit growth (1Y) -13.4% – 8.0%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) -6.5% – 8.2%
Operating income growth (1Y) 53.9% 59.6% 12.6%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -7.0% 30.9% 19.7%
Net income growth (1Y) 55.9% 30.5% 17.4%
Net income CAGR (3Y) -4.4% 14.8% 14.9%
EPS growth (1Y) 30.1% 14.0% 19.8%
EPS CAGR (3Y) -2.4% 5.8% 17.2%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -9.9% – 0.6%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 15.8% – 9.0%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -11.1% – –
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 18.4% – –

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricICLRWDHLH
Gross margin 23.4% – –
EBITDA margin 13.3% – –
Operating margin 8.7% 7.6% –
Pretax margin 6.3% 10.5% –
Net margin 5.4% 7.8% –
FCF margin 10.4% – –
Operating cash flow margin 12.5% – 12.4%
Return on equity 7.6% 10.2% 11.5%
Return on assets 4.3% 6.9% 5.4%
Return on invested capital 4.7% 6.8% –
Return on capital employed 5.3% 7.2% –
Asset turnover 0.5x 0.6x 0.8x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 2.3x – 1.8x
Stock comp / revenue 1.1% – 0.9%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricICLRWDHLH
Debt / assets 20.8% 6.0% –
Debt / equity 0.4x 0.1x –
Net debt / EBITDA 2.3x – –
Debt / FCF 3.9x – –
Liabilities / assets 43.8% 32.6% 53.2%
Equity / assets 56.2% 67.4% 46.8%
Interest coverage 3.4x – –
Current ratio 1.3x 2.2x 1.4x
Quick ratio 0.9x 1.4x –
Cash ratio 0.3x 0.5x –
Altman Z-score 2.28 1.55 –

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricICLRWDHLH
Dividend yield – 6.0% 0.8%
Net buyback yield 2.3% – –
Shareholder yield 2.3% 6.0% 0.8%
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.

ConsensusICLRWDHLH
Forward P/E 21.0xFY2026 11.1xFY2026 21.6xFY2026
EPS, next fiscal year $10.25FY2026 $0.09FY2026 $17.07FY2026
EPS growth, next FY -18.2%FY2026 +350.0%FY2026 +3.8%FY2026
EPS growth, the year after +22.2% +44.4% +9.3%
Revenue, next fiscal year $8.52BFY2026 $798.56MFY2026 $14.31BFY2026
Revenue growth, next FY +3.2%FY2026 +40.4%FY2026 +2.6%FY2026
Revenue growth, the year after -3.2% +32.0% +11.9%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersICLRWDHLH
Held by institutions 100.0% 6.9% 97.0%
Institutions holding 423 40 1,052
Change in shares held, QoQ +5.5% +1.8% +1.6%
Institutions buying 234 18 466
Institutions selling 138 8 393
Buyers to sellers 1.70 2.25 1.19

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.

ICLRWDHLH
ICLR 1.00 0.02 0.36
WDH 0.02 1.00 -0.01
LH 0.36 -0.01 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, ICLR, WDH and LH?

Labcorp Holdings (LH) is the largest by market capitalisation: Icon (ICLR) $16.43B, Waterdrop (WDH) $361.53M, Labcorp Holdings (LH) $29.53B.

Which stock is cheaper, ICLR, WDH and LH?

Waterdrop (WDH) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Icon (ICLR) 36.6x, Waterdrop (WDH) 6.3x, Labcorp Holdings (LH) 29.4x). On next year's consensus earnings, Waterdrop (WDH) is cheapest (Icon (ICLR) 21.0x, Waterdrop (WDH) 11.1x, Labcorp Holdings (LH) 21.6x). 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%, Waterdrop (WDH) +76.3%, Labcorp Holdings (LH) +6.0%.

Which company is more profitable?

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

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Labcorp Holdings (LH) returned the most: Icon (ICLR) +29.8%, Waterdrop (WDH) -41.9%, Labcorp Holdings (LH) +48.4%. Over five years, Labcorp Holdings (LH) compounded fastest (Icon (ICLR) -5.6%/yr, Waterdrop (WDH) -13.1%/yr, Labcorp Holdings (LH) +8.4%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Labcorp Holdings (LH) has been the steadiest (Icon (ICLR) 75.0%, Waterdrop (WDH) 37.1%, Labcorp Holdings (LH) 24.3%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

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

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Waterdrop (WDH) 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.