Medpace Holdings handily beat Wall Street's third-quarter expectations, leading MEDP stock to bound off its 50-day moving average on Tuesday.
Shares of the contract research organization surged 19.7% to 272.27 on the stock market today. Medpace stock is making strides toward its previous record high at 282.73, achieved on Sept. 14, according to MarketSmith.com.
During the September quarter, Medpace earned $2.22 per share on $492.5 million in sales. Earnings jumped 8% while sales grew more than 28%. Both measures easily beat the forecast of analysts polled by FactSet for earnings of $2.05 a share and $475.8 million in sales.
Medpace said it netted $611.5 million in new business awards during the third quarter. That's up almost 30% year over year and well above forecasts for $585.4 million, according to FactSet.
MEDP Stock Leads A Low-Rated Group
Medpace belongs to the low rated Medical-Research Equipment/Services industry group. The group ranks No. 150 out of 197 groups tracked by Investor's Business Daily. But MEDP stock outranks its 44 peers in the industry group.
The contract research organization, or CRO, helps companies and researchers run the clinical studies necessary to gain approval for new drugs.
Medpace boosted its profit outlook and now expects to earn $8.54 to $8.66 per share, up 33 cents at the midpoint from the company's guidance three months ago. MEDP stock analysts call for $8.43 per share in earnings this year.
Medpace now expects full-year sales to climb 28.1% to 29.5% to $1.87 billion to $1.89 billion. That's an increase from the company's prior outlook for $1.84 billion to $1.86 billion in sales. Analysts project $1.87 billion in sales.
MEDP stock is highly rated with a perfect EPS Rating of 99, according to IBD Digital. This means Medpace shares rank in the top 1% of all stocks regardless industry group in terms of profitability. The stock also has a Composite Rating of 90, a measure of technical and fundamental strength.
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