On Thursday, IQVIA Holdings Inc IQV reported a fourth adjusted EPS of $3.12, up from $2.84, beating the consensus of $3.11.

Provider of advanced analytics reported sales of $3.96 billion, almost in line with the consensus of $3.94 billion.

Revenue increased 2.3% on a reported basis and 3.0% at constant currency.

Technology & Analytics Solutions (TAS) revenue of $1.66 billion grew 8.3% on a reported basis and 9.5% at constant currency.

Research & Development Solutions (R&DS) revenue of $2.123 billion decreased 1.3% on a reported basis and 1.0% at constant currency.

R&DS contracted backlog, including reimbursed expenses, was $31.1 billion, growing 4.4% year-over-year and 5.5% at constant currency.

The company expects approximately $7.9 billion of this backlog to convert to revenue in the next twelve months. The fourth-quarter book-to-bill ratio was 1.20x, resulting in a trailing-twelve-month book-to-bill ratio of 1.19x

“IQVIA delivered excellent fourth quarter performance, closing out a strong 2024,” said Ari Bousbib, chairman and CEO of IQVIA. “R&DS revenue was on target and bookings exceeded our expectations despite the choppy CRO market environment. TAS revenue was above target and momentum continues to build into 2025.”

Guidance: IQVIA Holdings reaffirms its 2025 outlook for sales of $15.725 billion—$16.125 billion versus a consensus of $16.03 billion.

The company sees adjusted EPS of $11.70-$12.10 versus the consensus of $11.88 and adjusted EBITDA of $3.765 billion—$3.885 billion.

William Blair analyst Max Smock writes IQVIA’s management acknowledged that the contract research organization market remains uncertain.

However, stronger-than-expected bookings in the R&DS segment boost confidence in achieving mid-single-digit revenue growth for 2025, excluding COVID-related revenue.

Meanwhile, the TAS segment showed solid momentum, with 9.5% constant-currency revenue growth—150 basis points above expectations—suggesting IQVIA's 5%-7% growth target for 2025 may be conservative.

William Blair maintains the Outperform rating.

Price Action: IQV stock is up 2.8% at $211.36 at last check Thursday.

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