Charles River Laboratories key statistics and ratios

In fiscal 2025, Charles River Laboratories had return on equity of -4.4%, an operating margin of 0.6%, debt equal to 67.6% of equity and a current ratio of 1.29. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.

Financial ratios

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal years, plus the last twelve months (LTM) when newer.

Charles River Laboratories: financial ratios, annual
Fiscal year	2009Dec 2009	2010Dec 2010	2011Dec 2011	2012Dec 2012	2013Dec 2013	2014Dec 2014	2015Dec 2015	2016Dec 2016	2017Dec 2017	2018Dec 2018	2019Dec 2019	2020Dec 2020	2021Dec 2021	2022Dec 2022	2023Dec 2023	2024Dec 2024	2025Dec 2025	LTMJun 2026
Operating margin	14.5%	−26.3%	15.3%	14.7%	13.0%	13.7%	15.1%	14.1%	15.5%	14.6%	13.4%	14.8%	16.7%	16.4%	14.9%	5.6%	0.6%	2.3%
Net margin	9.8%	−29.7%	9.6%	8.6%	8.8%	9.8%	11.0%	9.2%	6.6%	10.0%	9.6%	12.5%	11.0%	12.2%	11.5%	0.5%	−3.6%	−6.0%
Free-cash-flow margin	11.6%	11.1%	13.8%	14.2%	14.6%	15.0%	17.9%	15.6%	12.7%	13.3%	13.0%	13.0%	15.0%	7.4%	8.8%	12.4%	12.9%	9.3%
Return on equity	8.3%	−32.6%	18.1%	17.3%	16.6%	19.3%	21.3%	19.7%	13.1%	19.2%	17.1%	19.4%	16.8%	17.6%	14.4%	0.6%	−4.4%	−7.9%
Return on assets	5.2%	−17.1%	6.7%	6.2%	6.4%	7.2%	7.6%	6.5%	4.4%	6.7%	5.9%	7.2%	6.2%	6.6%	6.0%	0.3%	−2.0%	−3.3%
Asset turnover	0.53	0.58	0.69	0.72	0.72	0.74	0.69	0.70	0.66	0.67	0.61	0.57	0.57	0.54	0.52	0.52	0.55	0.55
Current ratio	2.38	2.13	1.96	1.42	2.24	1.97	1.79	1.53	1.78	1.61	1.44	1.43	1.23	1.32	1.52	1.41	1.29	1.35
Debt to equity	35.8%	102.0%	140.7%	112.0%	103.6%	114.9%	117.7%	147.6%	109.6%	126.6%	115.5%	93.6%	105.2%	91.1%	73.8%	64.8%	67.6%	92.5%
Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest)	7.8x	n/m	4.1x	5.0x	7.2x	14.9x	13.7x	8.6x	9.7x	5.2x	5.8x	5.0x	8.0x	11.0x	4.5x	1.8x	0.2x	0.8x
Effective tax rate	26.6%	—	12.9%	21.3%	23.8%	26.8%	22.2%	30.0%	57.7%	19.3%	16.5%	18.3%	17.0%	20.9%	17.4%	72.8%	—	—
SG&A as % of revenue	19.4%	20.5%	17.4%	18.4%	19.4%	20.7%	22.0%	21.7%	20.0%	19.6%	19.7%	18.1%	17.5%	16.7%	18.1%	18.5%	18.5%	19.1%
Capital spending as % of revenue	6.8%	3.8%	4.3%	4.2%	3.4%	4.4%	4.6%	3.3%	4.4%	6.2%	5.4%	5.7%	6.5%	8.2%	7.7%	5.8%	5.5%	5.3%
Free cash flow ÷ net income	118.6%	—	143.9%	164.9%	165.2%	154.1%	163.1%	169.0%	191.0%	133.0%	135.1%	104.3%	136.1%	60.7%	77.0%	>999%	—	—
Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow	33.8%	284.4%	180.0%	40.0%	97.7%	62.5%	48.2%	4.7%	45.4%	4.6%	5.3%	6.3%	7.7%	13.1%	6.6%	23.8%	69.6%	87.4%

US$ thousands unless shown otherwise. Fiscal quarters.

Charles River Laboratories: financial ratios, quarterly
Quarter	2024 Q3Sept 2024	2024 Q4Dec 2024	2025 Q1Mar 2025	2025 Q2Jun 2025	2025 Q3Sept 2025	2025 Q4Dec 2025	2026 Q1Mar 2026	2026 Q2Jun 2026
Gross margin	34.6%	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Operating margin	11.6%	−16.7%	7.6%	9.7%	13.3%	−28.5%	12.0%	11.9%
Net margin	6.9%	−21.4%	2.6%	5.1%	5.4%	−27.8%	−1.5%	−0.1%
Free-cash-flow margin	21.1%	8.4%	11.4%	16.4%	17.7%	5.9%	−1.5%	14.8%
Current ratio	1.48	1.41	1.43	1.36	1.37	1.29	1.36	1.35
Debt to equity	61.5%	64.7%	78.6%	69.6%	64.2%	67.5%	90.8%	92.5%
SG&A as % of revenue	19.7%	19.5%	18.1%	18.6%	17.7%	19.7%	16.0%	22.8%

Returns use average equity or assets over the year. Return on equity is left blank when equity is negative or so small that the ratio says nothing (above ±200%); interest cover is left blank above 200 times. Price-based ratios such as P/E are on the valuation page.

Financial health

3 of 7 checks passed · June 27, 2026

What it owns · $7.5bn

Short-term assets $1.5bnLonger-term assets $6.0bn

What it owes, and who funded it · $7.5bn

Short-term liabilities $1.1bnLonger-term liabilities $3.5bnShareholders' equity $2.8bn

Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $1.5bn of assets due within a year against $1.1bn of liabilities due within a year.
Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $1.5bn short-term assets against $3.5bn of longer-dated liabilities.
More cash than debt $192m of cash against $2.6bn of debt.
Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 92% of equity.
Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 105% to 92% over five years.
A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $582m of operating cash flow against $2.6bn of debt.
Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $90m against $106m of interest.

From Charles River Laboratories's latest balance sheet as filed. Checks are fixed, documented rules (methodology), counted only where the company reports the figures — a dot means the filing doesn't break the item out. Descriptions of reported data, not advice.

Moat

60 /100

Moderate moat

How hard Charles River Laboratories's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 10 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.

Returns on capital 12 / 20

Cash operating profit has been a median 9.8% of total assets over 8 years.
Pricing power 13 / 20

Gross margin has been a median 36.9%, moving by 1.5 percentage points (standard deviation) across 8 years.
Durability 6 / 20

Operating margin has been a median 13.9%; its worst year was 2.3%.
Cash conversion 16 / 20

Free cash flow was positive in 10 of 10 years, at a median 12.6% of revenue.
Discipline 18 / 20

The diluted share count fell 4.7% over five years; stock-based pay has been a median 1.9% of revenue.

AI disruption exposure: Medium. In this industry, AI could change how the product is made or sold, without replacing the core asset. The score above includes a 5-point deduction for that exposure (65 before it).

A rules-based reading of reported figures, not a forecast and not investment advice. How the score is built: methodology.

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Figures from Charles River Laboratories's SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q), retrieved October 20, 2026. How we read and check them: methodology and data sources. Not investment advice. Back to Charles River Laboratories.