IQVIA, a new buy at Truist on differentiated contract research organization business

Mar. 17, 2023 11:01 AM ETIQVIA Holdings Inc. (IQV)By: Jonathan Block, SA News Editor

Truist has initiated IQVIA Holdings (NYSE:IQV) with a buy rating saying that the company is set to further benefit from its "differentiated" contract research organization ("CRO") segment.
The firm has a $265 price target (~35% upside based on Thursday's close).
The team says that the company "has continued to expand its breadth of offerings, resulting in strong growth in its backlog and continues to grow at an attractive organic growth rate."
Truist said that IQVIA's (IQV) CRO segment is differentiated because "the depth of its data enables IQV to improve clinical trial design, site identification, and patient recruitment by combining therapeutic, scientific, and domain expertise with patient records and product-tracking insights."
The firm noted that IQVIA (IQV) currently has a 15%-20% shares of its target total addressable market of ~$43B in outsourced clinical development.
Read why Seeking Alpha contributor Zach Bristow rates IQVIA (IQV) a buy.