ICON (ICLR) on Watch as Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) Adds New Lab Provider

This morning Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp®) (NYSE: LH) announced that LabCorp Clinical Trials has been selected as a preferred provider for full-service global central laboratory services and biomarker testing by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY). In the view of analyst Tim Evans of Wells Fargo, the deal is a potential negative for ICON (Nasdaq: ICLR).

"Based on ICLR's August 2011 press release, we believe ICLR is also a partner for BMY in central lab services. We view the addition of LH as a preferred provider as a potential negative for ICLR, since the desire to expand the LH relationship could mean the ICLR relationship will shrink. The potential earnings impact to ICLR could be anywhere from nothing up to about $0.15 in the very worst case, by our estimate," said Evans.

"Notably, moving central lab business is significantly easier than moving project management business, and we do not necessarily believe BMY's decision holds any negative implications for the core Phase IIIV services ICLR provides, given that ICLR's central lab is under-scaled compared to its clinical business," added the analyst.

Wells Fargo has an Outperform on ICON plc.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on ICON plc (NASDAQ: ICLR) click here. For more ratings news on ICON plc click here.

Shares of ICON plc closed at $32.29 yesterday.

---

Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

---

You May Also Be Interested In

• Tesla plans 'flying' Roadster stunt at SpaceX Texas site as early as August
• Silexion Therapeutics (SLXN) Tops Q2 EPS by 793c
• Vivos Therapeutics posts 35% revenue gain but widens net loss