CluenexCharles River Laboratories CRL
Charles River Laboratories scores weak on business quality (3.7 of 10). Here is why, in plain words, and what our sealed record shows.
Why it matters
- What Charles River Laboratories does
Charles River Laboratories provides research models and outsourced preclinical services to biopharmaceutical companies, helping them test and develop new drugs before human trials. Revenue has drifted downward over the past three years from $4.1B to $3.9B as client R&D budgets face pressure.
- What it does best
Charles River operates at a massive scale in early-stage research models, anchoring its role across early drug development pipelines. Its gross margin of 34.6% trails peers like MTD at 60.3%, highlighting pricing pressures in its specific contract research niche.
- The main risk
Shrinking revenue growth of -0.9% and a net loss of $238M expose the company to ongoing cuts in pharmaceutical customer R&D spending. If client demand fails to recover, fixed operational costs will continue to erode margins.
Quality, check by check
Scored against its own industry, from company filings.
Operating margin stands at 14.2% while net margin is -6.0% alongside an ROE of -7.7%. Profitability is compressing as negative revenue growth strips away operating leverage, turning scale into a drag on bottom-line results.
The company relies on regulatory-compliant infrastructure and biological asset scale to lock in drug developers. Its gross margin sits in the bottom quartile of its sector at 19th percentile, signaling limited pricing power against peers.
Revenue growth sits in the bottom decile of its sector at -0.9%, fading steadily from $4.1B in 2023 to $3.9B over the trailing period. The top-line engine is contracting rather than accelerating as drug developers pull back.
Total debt sits at $2.1B against $214M in cash, leaving net debt at $1.9B with interest coverage at 5.3x. Free cash flow came in at $370M, showing underlying cash generation despite a net loss, but the balance sheet is softening as revenue contracts.
Insiders
Executives and directors, from SEC Form 4 filings we read ourselves. Open market trades only; grants, option exercises and pre-planned sales left out.
1 insider bought $3K on the open market. 3 sold $3.0M outside pre-planned sales.
Our sealed record on CRL
Verdicts appear here 30 days after we publish them; members see today's. Each one is in the nightly ledger, fingerprinted the night it was made.
The first sealed verdicts appear here on Oct 11, 2026.
Questions
Charles River Laboratories scores weak on the Cluenex quality check (3.7 of 10), measured against its own industry. Profitability is weak, moat fair, growth slow and financial health fair.
In the last 90 days of SEC Form 4 filings: 1 insider bought $3K on the open market. 3 sold $3.0M outside pre-planned sales.
Nov 4, 2026, before the open.
See CRL today
- Today's verdict on CRL, and why
- Fair value with cautious, base and optimistic cases
- The exact price that would change the verdict
- Which stocks each signal names, the night it fires
Cite this page: Cluenex, “Charles River Laboratories (CRL)”, https://cluenex.com/stocks/crl/, data as of Oct 10, 2026.