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What is the Full Definition of ICON?
1: a usually pictorial representation as in the icon you use to represent who you are online
2:[Late Greek eikōn, from Greek] : a conventional religious image typically painted on a small wooden panel and used in the devotions of Eastern Christians
3: an object of uncritical devotion :
When I think of ICON, I usually think of $$$MR. MARKET$$$...I mean really, he is HUGE!
$$$MR. MARKET$$$ is well known for his Iconic stock picks, but how about this latest pick, a company that goes by the name ICON! Isn’t that ironic? No, it’s ICONIC!
Today I bought ICLR (ICON Public Limited Company) at 70.65. I will sell it in 4 – 6 weeks at 81.52. Here’s why I like ICLR:
The 12 month 48% gain would make those who have held the stock very happy. The PE of only 25 makes me happy that I bought it yesterday. The stock’s valuation seems more reasonable considering its projected growth trajectory. The forward PE is only 18. For full-year 2015, ANAL-ysts target per-share earnings of $3.51, up from $2.73 per share in 2014. For 2016, analysts project per-share earnings of $3.96. READY…SET…GROW!!! At JPMorgan's 33rd Annual Healthcare Conference that the contract research organization (or CRO) market was set to grow 8% per year through 2020. What would you rather do, put your money in a savings account and get 0.5%? Hmmmmmm????
ICON Public Limited Company, a contract research organization (CRO) provides outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries in Ireland, rest of Europe, the United States, and internationally. It develops, manages, and analyzes programs that support various stages of the clinical development process from compound selection to Phase I-IV clinical studies. The company also offers clinical trials management, biometric activities, consulting, imaging, contract staffing, informatics, and laboratory services. Its clinical development services include investigator recruitment, study monitoring and data collection, case report form preparation, statistical analysis, patient safety monitoring, risk-based monitoring, clinical data management, interactive response technologies, electronic patient reported outcomes, medical reporting, patient registries, outcomes research, health economics, market access and commercialization services, strategic analysis and data operations, bioanalysis, immunoassay development, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analysis, and study protocol preparation. The company’s clinical development services also comprise regulatory consulting, product development planning, strategic consulting, pricing and market access consulting, strategic resourcing, electronic endpoint adjudication, sample analyses, safety testing, microbiology, custom flow cytometry, electronic transmission of test results, biomarker development, adaptive trial design and execution, medical device trials, and healthcare communication services. ICON Public Limited Company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.
The drug development process has proven to be very costly. The returns and profitability of these massive investments have been crap. As a result, the medical industry has came up with ways to reduce their costs. Clearly, outsourcing part of the development process to a CRO accomplishes that, because by doing so, pharma companies shift their fixed costs into variable ones. Most big pharma companies have maintained a large and relatively expensive R&D staff, which are not fully utilized 100% of the time. They sit around and play video games, then they go smoke pot and then they collect their paychecks. Then they make more drugs.
CROs derive substantially all of their revenue from the R&D expenditures of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. In addition, some CROs provide R&D services to other industries including agriculture, tobacco, food, consumer staples, academic and non-for-profit research centers. As such, the total industry revenue pool is driven by two factors - first, the size of the aggregate R&D budgets of all end markets and second, the percentage of these budgets that is being outsourced to the CROs. The CROs have a much lower cost base than the pharma companies and shorten the entire review process. This is a one way trend. It ain’t going back in house.
So to put it bluntly, an investor in the CRO industry is betting on the process and volume of drug development rather than the outcome. Because a pharma company needs a drug to work after the research is done. A CRO company really doesn’t care if the drug works or not. They get paid either way.
Drug and medical-device companies increasingly turn to Icon to perform testing and research. That’s because ICON can help shorten product-development times, control costs, and better manage global clinical trials. An investment in ICON is a bet on the size and growth of the aggregate medical product pipeline and not the success of a single drug or device. As such we view it as a relatively lower risk way of participating in the healthcare industry innovation more than a company whose survival depends on a one or two products. New drugs require clinical trials and those trials increasingly have taken place on an international stage. Many top drug developers outsource an increasing share of trials to companies like Icon. Icon is one of the top five contract research organizations in terms of market share.
A floating tide lifts all boats. The market has seen research and development spending and increasing market penetration by outsourcing providers. Icon's strategy is to springboard off of this industry growth platform by making acquisitions to grow even faster! The stock has an estimated 5 year annual growth of 13.48% and a PEG multiple of 1.93. Great growth prospects at a fair price. In fact, the current growth estimate for this year calls for earnings-per-share growth of 24.2%.
Drug companies are saying, “Why do it in house when you can outsource it for a lot cheaper?” If you are a big pharma company, you outsourced the accounting, the Information Technology and all of the other stuff, why not outsource your R&D? Years of insane spending in the healthcare industry have produced limited productivity results and have brought costs to unsustainable levels. In the current age of low economic growth and financial austerity, the medical industry has intensified its efforts to reduce expenditures. In order to improve the consistency, efficiency and quality of the outsourcing process, the big pharmaceutical companies are consolidating their vendor base around the larger providers.
ICON has been witnessing rising earnings estimates over the past month on the back of stellar fourth quarter results. This contract research organization has delivered positive earnings surprises in the last four quarters with an average of 12.9%.
ICON reported fourth-quarter 2014 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 87 cents, which beat ANAL-yst estimates of 76 cents. Adjusted EPS also surged 64.2% from the year-ago quarter. The $140 million share buyback program that was completed during the quarter boosted adjusted EPS results by lowering the share count.
ICON also provided positive outlook for 2015. The company expects revenues for 2015 in the range of $1.61–$1.67 billion, exhibiting growth of 7%–11%. But if you turn back the clock, you’ll find they’ve always done well. The CRO industry indicates that drug development outsourcing experienced significant growth during the last two decades fueled by continuous rise of R&D spending and increasing penetration. Within this expansionary environment ICON grew at above-industry rate, driven by market share gains, favorable business mix and a successful acquisition strategy.
Where do these awesome financial numbers come from?
• 38 countries
• 11,000 employees
• $1.5bn revenue
ICLR is well positioned for the future. They boast:
• Global scale and full service portfolio
• Industry leading partnerships models
• Differentiated technology and analytics
• Leader in outcomes research & real world evidence
• Outstanding medical and scientific expertise
• Experienced management- track record of delivering shareholder value
What do they provide for their customers?:
• Global access to patients and full range of services
• Solutions that reduce development time and costs
• Access to the best people & experience
• Insights from new clinical and real world data sources
Their most recent earnings prove that all of this is working most excellently:
Highlights
· Quarter 4 net revenue increased 13.0% year on year to $390 million. Full Year 2014 net revenue increased 12.5% to $1.50 billion.
· Quarter 4 income from operations before non-recurring charges was $60.4 million or 15.5% of revenue. Full year 2014 income from operations before non-recurring charges was $211.1 million or 14% of net revenue.
· Earnings per share before non-recurring charges for Quarter 4 and the full year 2014 were 87 cents and $2.87 respectively.
· Full year 2015 revenue guidance in the range of $1,610 – $1,675 million, representing growth of 7-11%. Earnings per share guidance is in the range of $3.45 - $3.60, an increase of 20-25%.
ICON’s stock appreciated 800% during the late-2003 to mid-2008 period. I am thinking that the period 2013 through 2018 may see the same economic petri dish that boosted this industry in the aforementioned 5 year window. Another 800%? Why the heck not?
The industry transformation has resulted in rising backlogs at the leading global CRO players. ICON has all the characteristics that medical companies look for in a trusted global CRO partner. It also benefits from favorable business mix and improving fundamentals.
What have you done for me lately? It all boils down to what this company is going to do. It’s all about the earnings, earnings, earnings. ANAL-ysts project earnings of $3.51 per share on revenues of $1.65 billion. Of course, $$$MR. MARKET$$$ laughs at such poppycock. We’re going to see earnings of $4.40 in 2015 and if it sustains its PE of 25, this means the share price will rocket to:
$4.40 x 25 = $110. You think I’m kidding? Tell that to the 53 consecutive profitable trades of 15% or better that I’ve just booked. Remember, the earnings surprise has been averaging 13% to the upside, that gets you to $4.00 share right there. But why listen to me, here’s what the CEO Ciaran Murray had to say. Actually one of my best friends is named Murray, but I call him Mutley. We even have a football play named after him, the Mutley play.
CEO Ciaran Murray commented, "In 2014 our excellence in execution, along with our market leading innovative solutions enabled our customers to enhance the productivity of their development programmes and further consolidated our position as a leader in the drug development industry. This has enabled us to book $1.8 billion of new business, to grow our closing backlog by 16% to $3.6 billion and drive revenues by 13% to over $1.5 billion. By continuing to improve our operational performance and expand our margins we increased EPS by 62% to $2.87. For 2015 we are guiding revenue to be in the range of $1,610 - 1,675 million, an increase of 7-11%, and earnings to be in the range $3.45- $3.60, an increase of 20-25%.”
I’m not smoking weed. This stock is gonna pop. You can roll that up and smoke it.
I am HUGE!!
$$$MR. MARKET$$$
1: a usually pictorial representation as in the icon you use to represent who you are online
2:[Late Greek eikōn, from Greek] : a conventional religious image typically painted on a small wooden panel and used in the devotions of Eastern Christians
3: an object of uncritical devotion :
When I think of ICON, I usually think of $$$MR. MARKET$$$...I mean really, he is HUGE!
$$$MR. MARKET$$$ is well known for his Iconic stock picks, but how about this latest pick, a company that goes by the name ICON! Isn’t that ironic? No, it’s ICONIC!
Today I bought ICLR (ICON Public Limited Company) at 70.65. I will sell it in 4 – 6 weeks at 81.52. Here’s why I like ICLR:
The 12 month 48% gain would make those who have held the stock very happy. The PE of only 25 makes me happy that I bought it yesterday. The stock’s valuation seems more reasonable considering its projected growth trajectory. The forward PE is only 18. For full-year 2015, ANAL-ysts target per-share earnings of $3.51, up from $2.73 per share in 2014. For 2016, analysts project per-share earnings of $3.96. READY…SET…GROW!!! At JPMorgan's 33rd Annual Healthcare Conference that the contract research organization (or CRO) market was set to grow 8% per year through 2020. What would you rather do, put your money in a savings account and get 0.5%? Hmmmmmm????
ICON Public Limited Company, a contract research organization (CRO) provides outsourced development services to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries in Ireland, rest of Europe, the United States, and internationally. It develops, manages, and analyzes programs that support various stages of the clinical development process from compound selection to Phase I-IV clinical studies. The company also offers clinical trials management, biometric activities, consulting, imaging, contract staffing, informatics, and laboratory services. Its clinical development services include investigator recruitment, study monitoring and data collection, case report form preparation, statistical analysis, patient safety monitoring, risk-based monitoring, clinical data management, interactive response technologies, electronic patient reported outcomes, medical reporting, patient registries, outcomes research, health economics, market access and commercialization services, strategic analysis and data operations, bioanalysis, immunoassay development, pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analysis, and study protocol preparation. The company’s clinical development services also comprise regulatory consulting, product development planning, strategic consulting, pricing and market access consulting, strategic resourcing, electronic endpoint adjudication, sample analyses, safety testing, microbiology, custom flow cytometry, electronic transmission of test results, biomarker development, adaptive trial design and execution, medical device trials, and healthcare communication services. ICON Public Limited Company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.
The drug development process has proven to be very costly. The returns and profitability of these massive investments have been crap. As a result, the medical industry has came up with ways to reduce their costs. Clearly, outsourcing part of the development process to a CRO accomplishes that, because by doing so, pharma companies shift their fixed costs into variable ones. Most big pharma companies have maintained a large and relatively expensive R&D staff, which are not fully utilized 100% of the time. They sit around and play video games, then they go smoke pot and then they collect their paychecks. Then they make more drugs.
CROs derive substantially all of their revenue from the R&D expenditures of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies. In addition, some CROs provide R&D services to other industries including agriculture, tobacco, food, consumer staples, academic and non-for-profit research centers. As such, the total industry revenue pool is driven by two factors - first, the size of the aggregate R&D budgets of all end markets and second, the percentage of these budgets that is being outsourced to the CROs. The CROs have a much lower cost base than the pharma companies and shorten the entire review process. This is a one way trend. It ain’t going back in house.
So to put it bluntly, an investor in the CRO industry is betting on the process and volume of drug development rather than the outcome. Because a pharma company needs a drug to work after the research is done. A CRO company really doesn’t care if the drug works or not. They get paid either way.
Drug and medical-device companies increasingly turn to Icon to perform testing and research. That’s because ICON can help shorten product-development times, control costs, and better manage global clinical trials. An investment in ICON is a bet on the size and growth of the aggregate medical product pipeline and not the success of a single drug or device. As such we view it as a relatively lower risk way of participating in the healthcare industry innovation more than a company whose survival depends on a one or two products. New drugs require clinical trials and those trials increasingly have taken place on an international stage. Many top drug developers outsource an increasing share of trials to companies like Icon. Icon is one of the top five contract research organizations in terms of market share.
A floating tide lifts all boats. The market has seen research and development spending and increasing market penetration by outsourcing providers. Icon's strategy is to springboard off of this industry growth platform by making acquisitions to grow even faster! The stock has an estimated 5 year annual growth of 13.48% and a PEG multiple of 1.93. Great growth prospects at a fair price. In fact, the current growth estimate for this year calls for earnings-per-share growth of 24.2%.
Drug companies are saying, “Why do it in house when you can outsource it for a lot cheaper?” If you are a big pharma company, you outsourced the accounting, the Information Technology and all of the other stuff, why not outsource your R&D? Years of insane spending in the healthcare industry have produced limited productivity results and have brought costs to unsustainable levels. In the current age of low economic growth and financial austerity, the medical industry has intensified its efforts to reduce expenditures. In order to improve the consistency, efficiency and quality of the outsourcing process, the big pharmaceutical companies are consolidating their vendor base around the larger providers.
ICON has been witnessing rising earnings estimates over the past month on the back of stellar fourth quarter results. This contract research organization has delivered positive earnings surprises in the last four quarters with an average of 12.9%.
ICON reported fourth-quarter 2014 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of 87 cents, which beat ANAL-yst estimates of 76 cents. Adjusted EPS also surged 64.2% from the year-ago quarter. The $140 million share buyback program that was completed during the quarter boosted adjusted EPS results by lowering the share count.
ICON also provided positive outlook for 2015. The company expects revenues for 2015 in the range of $1.61–$1.67 billion, exhibiting growth of 7%–11%. But if you turn back the clock, you’ll find they’ve always done well. The CRO industry indicates that drug development outsourcing experienced significant growth during the last two decades fueled by continuous rise of R&D spending and increasing penetration. Within this expansionary environment ICON grew at above-industry rate, driven by market share gains, favorable business mix and a successful acquisition strategy.
Where do these awesome financial numbers come from?
• 38 countries
• 11,000 employees
• $1.5bn revenue
ICLR is well positioned for the future. They boast:
• Global scale and full service portfolio
- Operational Excellence and Reputation for High Quality
• Industry leading partnerships models
• Differentiated technology and analytics
• Leader in outcomes research & real world evidence
• Outstanding medical and scientific expertise
• Experienced management- track record of delivering shareholder value
What do they provide for their customers?:
• Global access to patients and full range of services
• Solutions that reduce development time and costs
• Access to the best people & experience
• Insights from new clinical and real world data sources
Their most recent earnings prove that all of this is working most excellently:
Highlights
· Quarter 4 net revenue increased 13.0% year on year to $390 million. Full Year 2014 net revenue increased 12.5% to $1.50 billion.
· Quarter 4 income from operations before non-recurring charges was $60.4 million or 15.5% of revenue. Full year 2014 income from operations before non-recurring charges was $211.1 million or 14% of net revenue.
· Earnings per share before non-recurring charges for Quarter 4 and the full year 2014 were 87 cents and $2.87 respectively.
· Full year 2015 revenue guidance in the range of $1,610 – $1,675 million, representing growth of 7-11%. Earnings per share guidance is in the range of $3.45 - $3.60, an increase of 20-25%.
ICON’s stock appreciated 800% during the late-2003 to mid-2008 period. I am thinking that the period 2013 through 2018 may see the same economic petri dish that boosted this industry in the aforementioned 5 year window. Another 800%? Why the heck not?
The industry transformation has resulted in rising backlogs at the leading global CRO players. ICON has all the characteristics that medical companies look for in a trusted global CRO partner. It also benefits from favorable business mix and improving fundamentals.
What have you done for me lately? It all boils down to what this company is going to do. It’s all about the earnings, earnings, earnings. ANAL-ysts project earnings of $3.51 per share on revenues of $1.65 billion. Of course, $$$MR. MARKET$$$ laughs at such poppycock. We’re going to see earnings of $4.40 in 2015 and if it sustains its PE of 25, this means the share price will rocket to:
$4.40 x 25 = $110. You think I’m kidding? Tell that to the 53 consecutive profitable trades of 15% or better that I’ve just booked. Remember, the earnings surprise has been averaging 13% to the upside, that gets you to $4.00 share right there. But why listen to me, here’s what the CEO Ciaran Murray had to say. Actually one of my best friends is named Murray, but I call him Mutley. We even have a football play named after him, the Mutley play.
CEO Ciaran Murray commented, "In 2014 our excellence in execution, along with our market leading innovative solutions enabled our customers to enhance the productivity of their development programmes and further consolidated our position as a leader in the drug development industry. This has enabled us to book $1.8 billion of new business, to grow our closing backlog by 16% to $3.6 billion and drive revenues by 13% to over $1.5 billion. By continuing to improve our operational performance and expand our margins we increased EPS by 62% to $2.87. For 2015 we are guiding revenue to be in the range of $1,610 - 1,675 million, an increase of 7-11%, and earnings to be in the range $3.45- $3.60, an increase of 20-25%.”
I’m not smoking weed. This stock is gonna pop. You can roll that up and smoke it.
I am HUGE!!
$$$MR. MARKET$$$
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