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what it is
Fortrea helps drug companies run clinical trials, recruit patients, and manage the paperwork between a molecule and FDA approval.
how it gets paid
Last year Fortrea made $2.7B in revenue. Clinical trial management was the main engine at $1.35B, or 50% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 1.0% last year. Revenue rose to $2.1B in the latest quarter from the EDGAR data.
what just happened
The quarter was ugly: EPS hit -$10.53 while Fortrea posted $2.1B in revenue and kept a deeply negative profit profile.
At a glance
C+ balance sheet — struggling to keep the lights on
1.0% return on capital — nothing to write home about
-$10.91 fy2025 eps est
$6M fy2024 rev est
32.0% operating margin
xvary composite: 29/100 — weak
What they do
Fortrea helps drug companies run clinical trials, recruit patients, and manage the paperwork between a molecule and FDA approval.
Drug trials are messy, global, and heavily regulated. Fortrea has spent more than 30 years building that machinery across more than 20 therapeutic areas with 14,500 employees. If your trial is already running, switching vendors midstream is expensive and painful, which is why these contracts can stick even when margins do not.
How they make money
$2.7B
annual revenue · their business grew +1.0% last year
Clinical trial management
$1.35B
Clinical pharmacology
$0.41B
Post-approval services
$0.27B
Patient access solutions
$0.41B
Technology-enabled trial solutions
$0.26B
The products that matter
runs global clinical trials
Clinical Development
$2.1B · ~78% of revenue
this is the company. when a $2.1B core segment grows just 1%, you do not get much help from elsewhere.
core engine
early-stage trial testing
Clinical Pharmacology
$0.4B · ~15% of revenue
this piece is smaller, but you should still watch it. better utilization here would show up in margin before it shows up in headlines.
margin watch
patient access and support
Patient Access & Other
$0.2B · ~7% of revenue
useful business, small bucket. at roughly $0.2B, it cannot offset weakness in the core trial engine on its own.
too small to carry
Key numbers
$1.1B
long-term debt
That debt load matters because it is larger than Fortrea's roughly $835M market value, so creditors have a louder voice than shareholders.
32.0%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit after running the business → so what: Fortrea is losing 32 cents on every dollar of sales before interest and taxes.
1.0%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit on invested money → so what: the business is barely turning capital into earnings.
1.7
beta
Beta → how violently the stock moves versus the market → so what: you should expect bigger drawdowns than the S&P 500.
Financial health
C+
strength
- balance sheet grade C+ — weak — may struggle to fund operations
- risk rank 5 — safer than 5% of stocks
- price stability 5 / 100
- long-term debt $1.1B (57% of capital)
C+ — balance sheet grade and long-term debt are flagged. this stock carries more risk than average.
Total return vs. market
Return history isn't available for FTRE right now.
source: institutional data · return history unavailable
What just happened
missed estimates
The quarter was ugly: EPS hit -$10.53 while Fortrea posted $2.1B in revenue and kept a deeply negative profit profile.
Revenue rose to $2.1B in the latest quarter from the EDGAR data, but earnings collapsed. Quiet part loud: more sales do not help you if the business is still losing money on the work.
$675M
revenue
$10.53
eps
32.0%
operating margin
the number that mattered
EPS of -$10.53 mattered most because it shows the balance-sheet problem is being fed by the income statement, not fixed by revenue growth.
source: company earnings report, 2026
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What could go wrong
the main risk is simple: Fortrea needs cost relief at the same time revenue is already pointed lower. if one side slips, the other side gets much harder to fix.
med
the top line is already moving the wrong way
management expects 2026 revenue of $2.55B–$2.65B versus $2.7B in 2025. when sales shrink before margins recover, every cost line gets louder.
that leaves you exposed to a revenue shortfall of roughly $50M–$150M from last year's base.
med
debt leaves little room for another miss
Fortrea carries $1.1B of long-term debt, equal to 57% of capital, while operating margin sits at 5.9%. that's a thin earnings cushion for a business still proving it can stand alone.
if margin improvement stalls, debt stops being a background detail and becomes the whole conversation.
med
the turnaround can stay theoretical for longer than you want
FTRE has real revenue scale, but the evidence that matters is still missing: better margins, steadier quarterly execution, and a guide that stops stepping down. until that shows up, the stock trades on hope and patience.
that usually means a lower multiple that keeps looking optically cheap without actually rerating.
you own a company guiding $50M–$150M below last year's revenue while carrying $1.1B in debt. that is not a forgiving setup.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
guide check
whether revenue stays inside $2.55B–$2.65B
the bull case does not need explosive growth. it needs management to stop the decline and at least hold the range it just gave you.
margin
operating margin moving off 5.9%
this is your cleanest turnaround test. if margin stays stuck near 5.9%, the spin-off cleanup is not happening fast enough.
quarterly prints
whether each quarter narrows or widens the gap
one rough quarter happens. several in a row turn a repair story into a value trap. watch the cadence, not just the headline.
street view
target revisions after the latest cut
the average target sits at $16.17, but one cited fair value fell to $14.44 from $16.44 in march 2026. targets follow confidence. confidence is fragile here.
Analyst rankings
risk profile
high risk
risk rank 5 — significant risk of large drawdowns.
chart momentum
average
momentum rank 3 — the stock is moving with the broader market, no unusual signal.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutional ownership data for FTRE is being compiled.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
n/a
n/a
$11
current price
n/a
target midpoint · n/a from current
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