IQVIA Holdings (IQV) Stock Analysis & Winston Score

IQVIA Holdings helps drug companies run clinical trials and understand healthcare data. It provides technology, analytics, and research services that pharmaceutical and biotech companies use to develop and test new medicines. IQVIA is one of the largest contract research organizations in the world, formed from the 2016 merger of IMS Health and Quintiles.

The company earns revenue through long-term service contracts, data subscriptions, and technology platform fees paid mostly by large pharmaceutical clients. It operates in over 100 countries, with significant revenue coming from North America and Europe, and employs roughly 85,000 people. IQVIA's main competitive advantage is its proprietary database of anonymized patient and prescription data, which is difficult for rivals to replicate. The key risk is that if pharmaceutical companies cut research and development spending during economic downturns, demand for IQVIA's clinical trial and data services tends to fall alongside it.

Winston Score History

Politician Trades

19 trades / 12mo

5 Congressional buys and 14 sells on IQV in the last 12 months.

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Growth Profile

For growth stock investors

When traditional metrics don't capture the full picture, these are the signals growth stock investors use instead.

Revenue Growth

+10.3% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Steady revenue growth

EPS Growth

+23.8% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Steady EPS growth

Insider Activity

5.0%ownership

→ Flat

Insiders holding steady — not selling despite ability to

Cash Position

Cash flow positive

$2.0B cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↑ Burn rate improving

Company generates more cash than it spends — no dilution risk from fundraising

Growth + cash flow

IQVIA Holdings is a rare growth stock that's already generating positive cash flow while growing at 10%. The Winston Score doesn't fully credit this transition from "burner" to "earner."

The Winston Score above measures business quality today. Growth stocks often score lower because they invest in the future rather than maximising current profits. These metrics show what matters most for evaluating that future.

Score breakdown

Every number that matters to educated investors.

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Quality

Gross Margin

6.7%

Thin — 6.7% gross margin

Operating Margin

16.8%

Healthy — 16.8% operating margin

ROCE

3.3%

Weak — 3.3% return on capital

ROIC between 0% and 5%. They earn a few cents back per dollar invested in the business.

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Growth

Sales YoY

+5.9%

Slow sales growth (5.9% YoY)

EPS YoY

+4.6%

Modest earnings growth (4.6% YoY)

Single-digit earnings growth — steady but not exciting.

EPS Consistency

4/8 quarters

Earnings inconsistent quarter-to-quarter

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Cash Flow

Cash Conversion

195%

Turns 195% of profit into real cash

FCF Margin

11.6%

Modest free cash flow (11.6%)

FCF margin between 10% and 20%. Every $100 in sales becomes $10 to $20 in real cash.

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Stability

Debt / Equity

2.45

Heavy debt load (2.45)

Interest Cover

3.14x

Tight — interest eats into profit (3.1x)

Interest coverage between 3 and 8. Profits cover interest several times over.

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Valuation

P/E Ratio (TTM)

25.4x

no trend

Growth-priced — P/E 25.4

P/E above the market average. People are paying up for expected growth.

P/E vs Forward

+12.1

GROWING

Earnings expected to grow meaningfully — cheaper on forward P/E (25.4 → 13.3)

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.

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