Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. CRL
Charles River Laboratories has rallied to $290 — well above its 50-day moving average of $229.93 and 200-day of $192.89 — with an overbought RSI of 74.48, despite carrying a negative FY2025 EPS of -$2.91 and a net loss of $144M on declining revenue of $4.02B. While Q2 2026 results exceeded expectations and management raised full-year guidance, the stock trades at 3.49x sales and 76.22x EV/EBITDA — roughly 191% and 274% above peer medians respectively — pricing in a recovery that has not yet restored profitability.
Insiders including the CEO and founder James Foster exercised options at $179.66 and sold common shares near $280, with net insider selling of $15.6M over 24 months, reinforcing the unfavorable risk/reward at these extended levels.
What could go wrong
- Demand recovery accelerates. If biopharma R&D spending rebounds faster than management's gradual outlook, DSA revenue and margins could inflect positively, justifying a higher multiple.
- Margin expansion materializes. FY2025 gross margin of 30.5% is well below the 36.4% level of FY2023; any structural cost reductions or pricing improvements could drive outsized operating leverage.
- M&A or strategic action. With total debt of $3.07B and stockholders' equity of $3.16B as of FY2025, a divestiture or restructuring could unlock value that the market is not currently crediting.
- Short squeeze dynamics. The stock is already technically extended with RSI above 74; further momentum-driven buying could push shares higher in the near term regardless of fundamentals.
What would change my mind
Where this comes from: FMP annual fundamentals FY2025 · derived_metrics FY2023 and FY2025 · technicals as of 2026-08-19 · peer_relative composite. Orin's read on CRL; not advice.
Twelve months actual closes to 2026-09-24 · actual filings
50-day average 200-day average · volume below
On file
All CRL filingsLargest holders · 13F Q2 2026
Money flow| Filer | Position | Of fund |
|---|---|---|
| Fmr | $961.5M | 0.0% of fund |
| Vanguard Capital Management | $714.2M | 0.0% of fund |
| Invesco | $676.9M | 0.1% of fund |
| Harris Associates L P | $508.3M | 0.7% of fund |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | $501.4M | 0.0% of fund |
| State Street | $422.8M | 0.0% of fund |
73 filers · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows
Insiders, last 24 months: 189 Form 4 filings, net −$26.5M. Of the 50 on hand, 0 were open-market purchases and 18 sales— the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.
Ask Orin about CRL
Orin answers questions about CRL from its filings, transcripts and numbers — with the source behind every claim. Your own desk starts with 3 free days, card required.
Start 3 free days →Where it trades
| Metric | Now | Own median | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| EV/EBITDA | 77.2× | 14.4× | — |
| P/S | 3.55× | 2.78× | — |
| P/B | 5.0× | 3.4× | — |
Its P/E sits 20th percentile of its own last 5 years (−0.68σ from its own mean).
12.0%
free-cash-flow growth every year for 10 years, discounted at 10%, is what today’s price implies — starting from $0.5B of trailing free cash flow. It is an assumption the market is making, not a forecast Orin is making.
What Wall Street published
$282
$219 – $330 · −3% against today's price
- 27 buy or overweight
- 10 hold
- 0 underweight or sell
The analysts’ consensus and their own ratings, not Orin’s. A target is a twelve-month opinion published by the firm that wrote it.
Against the companies it is compared to
| Company | Market cap | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross | Net | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRLCharles River Laboratories International, Inc. | $14B | — | 77.2× | 32.2% | -6.0% | -8% |
| BAXBaxter International Inc. | $12B | — | 26.2× | 30.1% | -9.3% | -17% |
| DVADaVita Inc. | $11B | 15.0× | 7.7× | 31.0% | 6.0% | -124% |
| RVTYRevvity, Inc. | $17B | 71.8× | 24.9× | 52.1% | 8.2% | 3% |
The median is of the 2 peers listed above and nothing else — check it against the column. The peer set is the vendor’s, so a company can appear here that a person would not have chosen.
What it has traded at
What its sector has traded at
Two scales, drawn separately on purpose: a sector median and one company’s multiple are not the same number and putting them on one axis invites a comparison neither series supports.
Discounted cash flow
| Model | Fair value | Against | Computed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard DCF | $125 | $188.88 · −34% | 2026-06-10 |
| Levered DCF | $77 | $188.88 · −59% | 2026-06-10 |
The vendor’s intrinsic-value models. Treat them as a low-growth anchor — for a fast grower the market routinely pays well above a DCF. These were computed against the price in the “against” column, not today’s.
Every estimate on one scale
The vertical rule is the current price. Ranges and point estimates are the backend’s, published as they were calculated; an arrow means the estimate sits beyond this scale, and its number is on the right.