Jefferies Reiterates Hold Rating on ICON plc (ICLR)

Jefferies analyst David Windley reiterated a Hold rating and $175.00 price target on ICON plc (NASDAQ: ICLR).

The analyst comments "Backlog Should Also be Addressed. Obviously, backlog feeds revenue. To our knowledge, no part of ICLR's revenue doesn't flow through backlog. To the extent revenue recognition practices were too aggressive (over-recognition of revenue), backlog could have actually been drawn down too much. However, we'd also suggest that the factors that led to over-recognition of revenue could also lead to over-recognition of backlog. All these things should have been audited on an annual basis, but backlog is a footnote item, not in the 3 statements. We think the primary audit check would be adherence to policy. In that case, ICLR's policy is more generous than peers. To be very clear, that policy (at least on paper) has been quite consistent for a very long time, and that policy for most of ICLR's history has produced cancellation rates on the lower end of industry averages. That is a solid reality check, in our view. Low cancellations haven't been the case in the last 4 quarters or so, leading investors to question if application of the policy had changed...a fair question."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on ICON plc click here. For more ratings news on ICON plc click here.

Shares of ICON plc closed at $133.14 yesterday.

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