(Reuters) – Contract research firm IQVIA Holdings beat Wall Street estimates for fourth-quarter profit and revenue on Thursday, helped by the demand for its healthcare data and analytics services.
Shares of the company were up 5.1% in premarket trading.
A rebound in commercial spending by IQVIA’s drug-making clients, aided by higher drug approvals in the last two years, has been driving growth in the company’s technological and analytical solutions unit.
Contract research organizations noted reduced spending from biotech clients last year, but recent interest rate cuts could improve the funding environment as borrowing costs might ease.
Durham, North Carolina-based IQVIA expects 2025 adjusted profit between $11.70 and $12.10 per share, where the midpoint is in line with analysts’ average estimate of $11.90, according to data compiled by LSEG.
However, the company forecast 2025 revenue in the range of $15.73 billion to $16.13 billion, where the midpoint is below the estimate of $16.02 billion.
Fourth-quarter revenue from IQVIA’s research and development solutions segment came in at $2.12 billion, compared with expectations of $2.13 billion.
The unit has registered continued cancellations from large drugmakers in the fourth quarter as they reprioritize their development pipelines.
Despite cancellations, the unit’s book-to-bill ratio – the number of orders received to those fulfilled – came in at 1.20x, which was better than expected, Leerink Partners analyst Michael Cherny said.
The company’s quarterly revenue rose 2.3% to $3.96 billion, beating analysts’ average estimate of $3.94 billion.
Its technological and analytical solutions segment, IQVIA’s second-largest unit through which it provides information and technology services to pharmaceutical and consumer health companies, reported revenue of $1.66 billion.
Analysts on average were expecting quarterly revenue of $1.63 billion.
IQVIA posted an adjusted profit of $3.12 per share for the fourth quarter, surpassing estimates of $3.11.
(Reporting by Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
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