Charles River Laboratories International

CRL · NYSE

$315.45+$15.43 (+5.14%)TodayMarket closed · Oct 20, 7:58 PM ET

Prev close $300.02

CRL analyst rating

BuyConsensus of 14 analysts over the last 12 months. 79% rate it a buy.

Strong buy0
Buy11
Hold3
Underperform0
Sell0

12-month price target · 19 analysts

Average $307.39 (−2.6% downside)

Low: $147.27
Now: $315.45
High: $374.85

Upgrades and downgrades

The latest rating actions, newest first

CRL analyst upgrades, downgrades and rating actions
Firm	Date	Action	Rating	Price target	Hit rate
Morgan Stanley	Oct 13, 2026	Maintains	Overweight	$300.00 → $340.00	67%
UBS	Sep 30, 2026	Initiates	Buy	$357.00	70%
Jefferies	Sep 28, 2026	Maintains	Buy	$305.00 → $340.00	72%
Deutsche Bank	Sep 25, 2026	Maintains	Buy	$300.00 → $320.00	38%
TD Cowen	Sep 25, 2026	Maintains	Buy	$300.00 → $325.00	62%
Evercore ISI Group	Sep 25, 2026	Maintains	Outperform	$320.00 → $330.00	70%
RBC Capital	Sep 25, 2026	Maintains	Outperform	$282.00 → $322.00	67%
Barclays	Sep 25, 2026	Maintains	Overweight	$300.00 → $330.00	54%
Mizuho	Sep 25, 2026	Maintains	Neutral	$264.00 → $295.00	69%
Baird	Sep 25, 2026	Maintains	Outperform	$291.00 → $334.00	64%

The case for and against

Updated Oct 18, 2026

Bull case

Charles River is supported by a resilient outsourced preclinical model that has delivered 16% annualized earnings growth over the past 10 years, with demand improving in DSA as biotech funding stabilizes and large pharma reprioritizes pipeline work toward IND-enabling studies. Its 5%-7% organic revenue growth and double-digit EPS growth outlook through 2030 are backed by margin expansion from divestitures, pricing normalization, automation, and more than $300M of planned savings, while management sees BioAnalysis as a meaningful incremental growth lever. The post-CDMO portfolio also looks higher quality, with Manufacturing targeting 7%-9% organic growth and >40% operating margins, and the broader business benefits from 220+ NAM capabilities, recurring microbial consumables, and a stronger position across the drug development lifecycle.

Bear case

Charles River is facing a negative fundamental outlook because demand for preclinical and IND-enabling services remains vulnerable to biotech funding constraints, pipeline cuts, tighter capital markets, and a shift toward in-house development by customers. Its earnings recovery also depends on successful vertical integration and margin expansion, yet integration challenges, NHP cost inflation, lower utilization, or geopolitical disruptions could prevent the anticipated 120 bps margin uplift and the guided $16M in 2026 and $39M in 2027 EPS accretion. In addition, the company’s exposure to NHP-related revenue decline in 2027 and 2028 and limited NAMs capabilities around $120M raise the risk of structural revenue erosion in a core high-margin segment.

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