Icon PLC key statistics and ratios
In fiscal 2025, Icon PLC had return on equity of 2.5%, an operating margin of 5.4%, debt equal to 37.2% of equity and a current ratio of 1.10. Each ratio below is calculated from the figures on its income statement, balance sheet and cash flow pages.
Financial ratios
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gross margin | 42.8% | 39.8% | 35.3% | 35.6% | 36.7% | 39.9% | 42.3% | 42.3% | 41.6% | 30.0% | 29.6% | 29.2% | 27.5% | 28.6% | 29.0% | 28.6% | — |
| Operating margin | 12.1% | 10.2% | 3.1% | 6.1% | 9.1% | 13.5% | 17.9% | 18.7% | 19.2% | 14.4% | 15.4% | 14.0% | 6.9% | 10.3% | 11.2% | 12.6% | 5.4% |
| Net margin | 10.6% | 9.7% | 2.4% | 5.0% | 7.7% | 11.5% | 15.2% | 15.7% | 16.0% | 12.4% | 13.3% | 11.9% | 2.8% | 6.5% | 6.9% | 9.0% | 2.8% |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 24.9% | 6.3% | −1.6% | 7.4% | 14.4% | 9.1% | 14.6% | 13.0% | 19.2% | 8.5% | 13.3% | 18.8% | 13.4% | 5.4% | 12.7% | 13.7% | 10.4% |
| Return on equity | 16.5% | 14.0% | 3.4% | 7.7% | 12.3% | 18.5% | 28.0% | 30.7% | 27.0% | 25.8% | 25.2% | 19.2% | 3.1% | 6.1% | 6.2% | 7.9% | 2.5% |
| Return on assets | 10.4% | 9.4% | 2.3% | 5.0% | 7.8% | 11.6% | 14.8% | 14.8% | 14.2% | 14.3% | 14.2% | 10.5% | 1.5% | 2.9% | 3.3% | 4.4% | 1.4% |
| Asset turnover | 0.98 | 0.97 | 0.96 | 1.00 | 1.01 | 1.01 | 0.97 | 0.94 | 0.89 | 1.15 | 1.07 | 0.88 | 0.53 | 0.45 | 0.47 | 0.49 | 0.50 |
| Current ratio | 1.79 | 2.32 | 1.83 | 1.61 | 1.70 | 1.52 | 1.51 | 1.94 | 1.95 | 2.18 | 1.44 | 1.87 | 1.19 | 1.20 | 1.20 | 1.24 | 1.10 |
| Debt to equity | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 45.6% | 36.9% | 30.5% | 25.8% | 21.6% | 18.9% | 68.9% | 55.8% | 42.5% | 36.5% | 37.2% |
| Interest cover (operating income ÷ interest) | 30.4x | 81.4x | 17.9x | 34.9x | 94.1x | — | 70.5x | 24.0x | 26.8x | 27.7x | 32.6x | 30.1x | 2.1x | 3.5x | 2.7x | 4.4x | 2.2x |
| Effective tax rate | 9.9% | 6.1% | 21.1% | 17.6% | 14.9% | 14.9% | 14.1% | 12.7% | 14.2% | 11.5% | 12.0% | 12.6% | 21.0% | 10.5% | 3.2% | 8.0% | 9.2% |
| SG&A as % of revenue | 26.0% | 25.9% | 27.1% | 25.2% | 23.5% | 22.4% | 20.7% | 19.5% | 18.4% | 12.6% | 11.9% | 12.2% | 10.7% | 10.1% | 9.5% | 8.9% | 9.5% |
| Capital spending as % of revenue | 3.8% | 3.4% | 3.7% | 2.8% | 2.2% | 2.2% | 3.2% | 2.6% | 2.5% | 1.9% | 1.4% | 1.5% | 1.7% | 1.8% | 1.7% | 2.1% | 2.1% |
| Free cash flow ÷ net income | 234.7% | 64.9% | −66.0% | 149.1% | 186.5% | 79.5% | 95.7% | 82.6% | 120.2% | 68.3% | 99.9% | 158.6% | 480.1% | 83.3% | 184.1% | 151.3% | 375.9% |
| Dividends and buybacks ÷ free cash flow | — | — | — | 18.9% | — | 102.1% | 199.7% | 50.8% | 39.3% | 58.6% | 39.3% | 33.2% | 0.0% | 23.7% | 0.0% | 44.7% | 87.0% |
Financial health
- Short-term assets cover short-term liabilities $3.5bn of assets due within a year against $3.2bn of liabilities due within a year.
- Short-term assets cover long-term liabilities $3.5bn short-term assets against $3.9bn of longer-dated liabilities.
- More cash than debt $647m of cash against $2.9bn of debt.
- Debt below 40% of shareholders' equity Debt is 31% of equity.
- Debt burden no higher than five years ago Debt to equity moved from 19% to 31% over five years.
- A year's operating cash flow covers at least 20% of debt $1.0bn of operating cash flow against $2.9bn of debt.
- Operating profit covers interest at least five times over Operating income of $443m against $197m of interest.
Moat
Moderate moat
How hard Icon's competitive advantage looks for rivals to wear away, judged from 5 years of its own filings: returns on capital, pricing power, profit durability, cash conversion and discipline.
- Returns on capital 10 / 20
Net income has been a median 7.1% of total assets over 5 years.
- Pricing power 8 / 20
Gross margin has been a median 35.6%, moving by 6.3 percentage points (standard deviation) across 5 years.
- Durability 10 / 20
Operating margin has been a median 9.1%; its worst year was 5.4%.
- Cash conversion 17 / 20
Free cash flow was positive in 5 of 5 years, at a median 14.4% 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 (57 before it).
Compare with peers
- Agilent Technologies statistics
- Avantor, Inc. statistics
- Waters Corporation statistics
- Illumina, Inc. statistics
- Mettler Toledo statistics
Head to head: A vs ICLRAVTR vs ICLRICLR vs WAT
More: Life Sciences Tools & Services stocks compared, Health Care sector, rankings of US companies