Charles River Laboratories International Inc (CRL) stock analysis
Charles River Laboratories International Inc (CRL) clears 3 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 0 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 0 of 5 Lynch-style checks. At $339.66 it trades 152.8% above this site's neutral DCF value (a margin of safety of -152.8%). Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns +1.7% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does Charles River Laboratories International do?
Charles River Laboratories supplies research animals, lab testing and contract research services to drug and biotech companies.
What stands out about Charles River Laboratories International?
- The share price implies 32.2% yearly growth. At $339.66, CRL's free cash flow of $7.87 per share would have to grow 32.2% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for more growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
- Misses 1 of the 8 value filters. It fails Market Cap > $25B ($16.6B); the other 3 pass and 4 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- Weakest against peers: return on equity. At −8% (peer median 13%) it ranks 11th of 11 among life sciences tools & services stocks this site tracks. See the ranking.
- Insiders have been buying. 1 open-market purchase was reported in SEC Form 4 filings in the last 90 days, about $8.3 million in all. See the Insider Buying Tracker.
- Short interest is elevated. 6.1% of the float is sold short, 2.7 days to cover, above this site's 5% flag. See the figures.
How has Charles River Laboratories International's share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Charles River Laboratories International undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) -152.8%
- Wall St. analyst rating Buy · 4.09/5 23 analysts this month: 7 strong buy, 11 buy, 5 hold, 0 sell, 0 strong sell (Finnhub). Up from 4.00 last month.
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) 1.82 · Grey zone
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · all 5 checks clean Beneish M-score −3.11 · accruals −12.0% of assets · >500% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 1.8% of revenue · share count −1.9% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Dec 2025) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +1.7% net Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 0.0% + buybacks 2.2% − stock comp 0.4%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 3%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) $760.58 per $1 of new profit · Capital-hungry · but only 5% return on capital Operating profit $286M → $290M, capital needed $2.4B → $5.4B, 2016–2025 (3-year averages); return on capital now 5% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) n/a (falling or negative earnings)
- Compounder lenses (4) 1 of 4 · misses capital-light, cash back, price (n/a) Capital-light growth: not cleared (profit grew 1.0×, under 2×); Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: not cleared (+0.6% a year net); Fair price (PEG): cannot be measured (falling or negative earnings). See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Value trap check Clear
- Munger's Inversion Check 3 flags
- Standing vs. sector peers 0 of 5 measures above the median Compared with the 10 other life sciences tools & services stocks this site tracks: 0 in the top third, 4 in the bottom third.
How does Charles River Laboratories International compare with its peers?
0 of 5 measures sit above the median of the 10 other life sciences tools & services stocks tracked here, 4 in the bottom third.
- Free-cash-flow yieldhigher is cheaper · peer median 2.5% 2.3% –7th of 11
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 13% −8% ✕11th of 11
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 15.0% −6.0% ✕11th of 11
- Revenue growthhigher is better, year on year · peer median 6.9% −0.7% ✕11th of 11
- Debt / equitylower is safer · peer median 0.54 0.93 ✕9th of 11
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and CRL doesn't clear enough of it yet. Where it comes up short: CRL isn't clearing the return-on-equity bar he'd want to see right now, and its five-year average return on equity falls short too, so this isn't just a one-off dip, carries more debt relative to equity than he typically tolerates, runs thinner pretax margins than he'd like to see, hasn't grown earnings per share fast enough over five years to impress him, doesn't cover its interest expense as comfortably as he'd want, is trading above what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth right now, and trades rich relative to owner earnings, the real cash the business could pay out.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✕
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- Pretax margin > 15% ✕
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✕
- Interest coverage > 5x ✕
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✕
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✕
- Bonus: returning capital via buybacks FY2025
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and CRL falls short of his bar. Where it comes up short: CRL fails his signature PEG test, he'd call this pricey for the growth on offer, is growing earnings outside the 10–25% range he considered the sustainable sweet spot, is leaning on more debt than he liked a growth story to carry, is asking investors to pay a steep multiple for that growth, and isn't generating free cash flow to match the growth story.
- PEG < 1 ✕
- EPS growth 10%-25% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✕
- P/E < 27 n/a
- Price/FCF < 30 ✕
- Bonus: insiders buying (90d) 1 buy, ~$8.3M
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does Charles River Laboratories International pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $16.6B
- Trailing P/E < 25 n/a
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 -0.27
- Price/Book < 8 5.86
- Price/Sales < 7 4.16
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% n/a
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is Charles River Laboratories International's margin of safety?
History tracking starts this week - check back in a future week to see how this has moved.
Where is Charles River Laboratories International in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Charles River Laboratories International?
2,878,537 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with Charles River Laboratories International? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case -49%
- Short interest under 5% of float 6.1%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 5/6 passed
- Price run-up backed by value, not just momentum +127% off 52wk low
- Debt/equity stable since 2016 1.47 → 0.68
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Charles River Laboratories International shareholders gained per year?
Not enough clean earnings history to compute this for CRL yet - a loss year in the window breaks the growth math rather than faking a number through it.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from CRL's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do Charles River Laboratories International's 10-year financials show?
From CRL's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about Charles River Laboratories International
What kind of company is Charles River Laboratories International?
Charles River Laboratories supplies research animals, lab testing and contract research services to drug and biotech companies. This site groups it with Life Sciences Tools & Services stocks.
Is Charles River Laboratories International trading above or below its DCF value?
At $339.66, CRL trades 152.8% above this site's neutral DCF value of $134.37 per share, a margin of safety of −152.8%. That DCF projects free cash flow for 10 years, with growth starting at 8% and fading to 2.5%, discounted at 10%; it is one set of assumptions, not a forecast. Test your own in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does Charles River Laboratories International pass?
CRL passes 3 of 8. It passes PEG Ratio < 1.5 (-0.27), Price/Book < 8 (5.86) and Price/Sales < 7 (4.16). It misses Market Cap > $25B ($16.6B). Trailing P/E < 25, EPS Growth YoY > -5%, vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
Are Charles River Laboratories International's insiders buying its shares?
Yes: 1 open-market insider purchase of Charles River Laboratories International shares, worth about $8.3 million in total, was reported in SEC Form 4 filings in the 90 days up to this page's last update. Only open-market purchases count here, not option exercises or stock awards. See the Insider Buying Tracker.
When does Charles River Laboratories International report earnings next?
Charles River Laboratories International's next earnings report is expected on November 4, 2026 before the market opens, with analysts expecting earnings of $3.00 per share. Dates come from the Finnhub earnings calendar and can move. In its last 4 quarters it beat the estimate 4 times, by an average of +4.5%.
How heavily is Charles River Laboratories International stock sold short?
As of September 30, 2026, 6.1% of CRL's float was sold short (2,878,537 shares, 2.7 days to cover), up 29.1% from the prior reporting period. FINRA publishes short interest twice a month, so it changes about every two weeks; this site flags anything above 5% of the float.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Charles River Laboratories International's 10-K annual report for the year ended Dec 27, 2025, filed Feb 18, 2026 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this Charles River Laboratories International Inc analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Charles River Laboratories International Inc (CRL) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.