Fortrea Holdings

FTRE

Biotechnology · Healthcare

Price

$18.39

+0.20 (+1.10%)

Market Cap

$1.75B

Exchange

NASDAQ

Winston Score

Winston is worried

Weak fundamentals across most pillars.

Data as of Aug 23, 2026 · filings through Jun 30, 2026

How the score breaks down

Quality

Weak

Growth

Weak

Cash Flow

Weak

Stability

Good

Valuation

Data not available

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Share count rising — dilution

+3.2% over 4y

The company has issued more shares over this period, which dilutes each existing shareholder’s stake.

Diluted shares outstanding: 88.4M (2021) → 91.2M (2025)

Winston Score History

The full picture

Fortrea Holdings is a contract research organization (CRO) that helps pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies run clinical trials. When a drug company wants to test whether a new medicine is safe and effective, Fortrea manages that process — recruiting patients, collecting data, and handling regulatory paperwork. The company was spun off from LabCorp in 2023 and serves clients across the drug development industry.

Fortrea earns money by charging fees for managing clinical trials, typically under long-term service contracts. It operates globally, with operations across North America, Europe, and Asia, and competes against larger rivals like IQVIA and Covance. Its thin operating margin of around 0.4% reflects the high costs of running a newly independent company still building its own infrastructure. The main risk Fortrea faces is winning enough new business to fill its pipeline, since CROs depend heavily on clients not canceling or delaying trials — something that happened more frequently as biotech funding tightened in recent years.

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

-4.5% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

Revenue declining

EPS Growth

+96.6% YoY

YoY Growth Rate

EPS growth accelerating

R&D Spend

$0/ year

0.0% of revenue

Below sector average (18%)

Research and development spending

Insider Activity

0.9%ownership

Relatively low insider ownership

Cash Runway

~20 months

$169M cash & investments

Quarterly Free Cash Flow

↓ Burn rate worsening

Adequate runway but may need to raise capital within 2 years

Revenue declining

Fortrea Holdings's revenue is actually shrinking. In a growth stock, that removes the core investment thesis. The low Winston Score here may be warranted — unless there's a turnaround story.

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

Profit per sale

Gross Margin

20.5%

Thin — 20.5% gross margin

Profit after running costs

Operating Margin

2.2%

Thin — 2.2% operating margin

Return on the money invested

ROCE

1.8%

Weak — 1.8% 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 growth

Sales YoY

-2.1%

Shrinking sales (-2.1% YoY)

Profit growth

EPS YoY

N/A

—

Data not available

How steady the profit is

EPS Consistency

4/8 quarters

Earnings inconsistent quarter-to-quarter

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Cash Flow

Profit that turns into cash

Cash Conversion

N/A

—

Data not available

Spare cash per sale

FCF Margin

5.6%

Thin free cash flow (5.6%)

FCF margin between 0% and 10%. Some cash from sales, but not a lot.

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Stability

What it owes vs what it owns

Debt / Equity

0.15

Conservative — low debt load (0.15)

Covers its interest

Interest Cover

0.13x

Dangerous — barely covers interest (0.1x)

Interest coverage below 1. Their profits don't cover the interest bill.

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Valuation

Price vs profit

P/E Ratio (TTM)

N/M

—

Negative earnings — P/E not meaningful

Cheaper or dearer next year

P/E vs Forward

N/A

not available

Data not available

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Dividends

Not applicable for this business.

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