Shares of Charles River Laboratories (CRL) surged 8.15% in pre-market trading on Wednesday after the contract drug developer reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and raised its full-year profit forecast.
The company posted adjusted earnings per share of $3.02, surpassing the consensus estimate of $2.74, while revenue of $1.004 billion beat the expected $975.7 million. The strong performance was driven by improving demand in its Discovery and Safety Assessment segment and better-than-expected results in the Manufacturing segment.
Additionally, Charles River lifted its 2026 adjusted EPS guidance to a range of $11.15 to $11.45, up from a prior view of $10.80 to $11.30 and above the FactSet consensus of $11.11. CEO Birgit Girshick noted that the demand environment continued to strengthen, with broad-based improvement across global biopharmaceutical and biotechnology clients, signaling a recovery from the post-pandemic slowdown.