One-glance verdict
Within fair range
$171.54 our estimate vs market $208.23
Wall Street consensus: $229.63 (33.9% higher than our fair-value estimate)
21% above our estimate
Fundamentals snapshot
IQVIA Holdings Inc.
IQV · NYQ · Healthcare · Diagnostics & Research
Current price
$208.23
52-week range
$154.50 - $247.05
Market cap
$34.75B
Balance sheet
Distressed
3.14x Stretched
Net debt $14.11B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
1 Risk
3 rewards · 1 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 2.0% last year.
- Reward Returns 22.5% on equity, ahead of 66% of its peers.
- Reward Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
- Risk Net debt grew 18.0% over 3 years.
What this company does
IQVIA Holdings Inc.
IQVIA is a support company for the healthcare industry, mainly helping pharmaceutical and biotech companies develop and sell their products. It earns most of its money by managing the complex process of clinical trials (testing new drugs on people for safety and effectiveness) and by selling detailed data that shows which medicines doctors are prescribing. This makes IQVIA an essential partner for its customers, who rely on its expertise to navigate the long and costly path of bringing a new drug to patients.
How the company got here
IQVIA was formed in 2016 through the merger of two large healthcare companies: Quintiles and IMS Health. Quintiles, started in 1982, was an expert in running clinical trials (the process of testing new drugs on people to see if they are safe and effective). IMS Health, which began in 1954, was a leader in collecting and analyzing healthcare data, like tracking drug sales. By combining Quintiles' experience in drug development with IMS Health's massive data library, the new company, which renamed itself IQVIA in 2017, could offer a complete package of services to drug and medical device makers, from the earliest research stages to selling the final product.
What it actually does
Think of IQVIA as a company that helps drug and life sciences companies bring new treatments to patients faster and more effectively. It provides the data, technology, and services needed to run clinical trials, get drugs approved by governments, and market them to doctors and patients. For example, they might help a pharmaceutical company identify the right patients for a new cancer drug trial, manage the complex data from that trial, and then help the company's sales team understand which doctors to talk to about the new drug once it's approved. They do this for clients in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries all over the world.
Research & Development Solutions
This is IQVIA's largest business segment, making up more than half of its revenue. It helps companies with the entire process of developing new drugs, from the earliest lab studies to large, global clinical trials. Pharmaceutical and biotech companies pay IQVIA to manage these trials, which includes designing the study, recruiting patients, monitoring the study's progress, and collecting and analyzing the data to see if the new treatment works. Essentially, this division acts as an expert partner that handles the complex and expensive process of testing new medicines.
Technology & Analytics Solutions
This segment, which brings in a little under half of the company's revenue, is all about data and software. IQVIA gathers vast amounts of anonymous patient data—like prescription information and medical records—and uses it to provide valuable insights to healthcare companies. Clients pay for access to this data and for cloud-based software that helps them analyze market trends, understand how diseases are being treated, and manage their sales and marketing efforts. This part of the business helps companies make smarter decisions based on real-world information.
Contract Sales & Medical Solutions
This is the smallest of IQVIA's three segments, contributing about 5% of total revenue. It provides outsourced sales teams and other medical experts to drug and device companies. For example, if a company launches a new product, instead of hiring its own sales force, it can hire a team from IQVIA to go out and educate doctors about the new treatment. This allows the client company to be more flexible and save on the costs of maintaining a full-time sales staff.
What management is betting on now
IQVIA's leadership is heavily focused on integrating its vast data resources with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. The goal is to create what they call "Connected Intelligence"—a smarter way to run clinical trials and commercialize drugs by using technology to find hidden patterns and make better predictions. They are investing in AI to speed up everything from finding the right patients for a study to helping sales teams be more effective. This strategy aims to make IQVIA an essential partner that is deeply embedded in its clients' operations, from the research lab all the way to the doctor's office.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q2
$445.00M
FY2024 Q3
$571.00M
FY2024 Q4
$721.00M
FY2025 Q1
$426.00M
FY2025 Q2
$292.00M
FY2025 Q3
$772.00M
FY2025 Q4
$561.00M
FY2026 Q1
$491.00M
Revenue
$4.15B
Net income
$274.00M
Diluted EPS
1.61
Operating cash flow
$618.00M
Free cash flow
$491.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$4.36B
Net income
$514.00M
Diluted EPS
2.97
Operating cash flow
$735.00M
Free cash flow
$561.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$4.10B
Net income
$331.00M
Diluted EPS
1.93
Operating cash flow
$908.00M
Free cash flow
$772.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$4.02B
Net income
$266.00M
Diluted EPS
1.54
Operating cash flow
$443.00M
Free cash flow
$292.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$3.83B
Net income
$249.00M
Diluted EPS
1.40
Operating cash flow
$568.00M
Free cash flow
$426.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$3.96B
Net income
$437.00M
Diluted EPS
2.41
Operating cash flow
$885.00M
Free cash flow
$721.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$3.90B
Net income
$285.00M
Diluted EPS
1.55
Operating cash flow
$721.00M
Free cash flow
$571.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$3.81B
Net income
$363.00M
Diluted EPS
1.97
Operating cash flow
$588.00M
Free cash flow
$445.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $171.54 vs current price $208.23
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $229.63 (33.9% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $171.54 a share — about 17.6% away from today's price of $208.23, so the stock currently looks fairly priced.
Is it drowning in debt?
Distressed
Net debt $14.1B. Interest coverage 3.1x.
Net debt
$14.11B
Interest coverage
3.14x
IQVIA Holdings Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 3.1 times over. which is weaker than most peers shown here.
Distressed
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
IQV
BASELINE
IQVIA Holdings Inc.
Total debt $16.22B Interest coverage 3.14x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $7.29B Interest coverage 6.77x +116% vs IQV Carries about 2.2x more debt cushion than IQV.
Total debt $3.54B Interest coverage 5.38x +72% vs IQV Carries about 1.7x more debt cushion than IQV.
Total debt $43.16B Interest coverage 5.72x +82% vs IQV Carries about 1.8x more debt cushion than IQV.
Total debt $3.06B Interest coverage 3.75x +19% vs IQV Carries about 1.2x more debt cushion than IQV.
Total debt $146.09M Interest coverage 41.86x +1,234% vs IQV Carries about 13.3x more debt cushion than IQV.
What you should know
The case for and against IQV
3 Rewards
1 Risk
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 2.0% last year.
-
Returns 22.5% on equity, ahead of 66% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
Risks
-
Net debt grew 18.0% over 3 years.
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
25.87x
Forward P/E
14.67x
P/B
5.59x
P/S
2.09x
EV/EBITDA
16.33x
PEG ratio
0.83x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
33.0%
Operating margin
13.6%
Net margin
8.3%
ROE
22.5%
ROA
5.1%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
2.55x
Current ratio
0.75x
Quick ratio
0.66x
Total debt
$16.22B
Total cash
$2.10B
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$16.63B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
4.1%
EPS TTM
8.05
EPS 5Y CAGR
11.1%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$2.70B
Free CF TTM
$2.05B
FCF margin
12.3%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
—
Payout ratio
0.0%
Last ex-div date
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