Medpace tumbles after bookings disappoint

Medpace Holdings

23/07/2024 14:03

** Medpace's  MEDP.O  shares down 13.6% premarket to
three-mth low $377.91 after clinical contract research
organization's bookings miss expectations
    ** Co late Mon reported Q2 new business awards decreased 4%
yr/yr for net book-to-bill ratio (number of orders received to
those fulfilled) of 1.04x
    ** TD Cowen, which rates MEDP "buy", pointed out that
consensus called for book-to-bill ratio of 1.23x
    ** While unclear what drove bookings weakness, some
explanations might include higher cancellations, lower win
rates, and/or lower pass-throughs, TD Cowen said in note to
clients
    ** MEDP said Q2 rev grew 14.6% to $528.1 mln and posted adj
EPS of $2.75. LSEG estimates were $528.6 mln and $2.54
    ** Co lowered FY rev guidance to $2.13-$2.18 bln vs prior
forecast of $2.15-$2.2 bln, though hiked profit guidance to
$11.24-$11.93 from previous outlook of $10.79-$11.47
    ** In comparison, peer IQVIA  IQV.N  on Mon reported its Q2
book-to-bill ratio rose to 1.27x from 1.23x in Q1. IQV shares on
Mon closed up ~9%
    ** Through Mon close, MEDP shares up ~43% YTD and up nearly
80% over the past 12 months

 (Lance Tupper is a Reuters market analyst. The views expressed
are his own)
 ((lance.tupper@thomsonreuters.com
lance.tupper@tr.com 1-646-279-6380))