Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc vs Msci Inc — how do they compare? Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc trades at $286.58 (market cap $13.46B), while Msci Inc trades at $563.7 (market cap $40.84B). The key difference: Msci Inc is far larger — about 3× Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc's market cap, and Msci Inc pays a 1.46% dividend while Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc pays none. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| CRL | MSCI | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $13.46B | $40.84B |
Sector | Health | Financials |
52-Week High | $282.00 | $643.83 |
52-Week Low | $145.57 | $511.84 |
Enterprise Value | $16.30B | $47.00B |
Dividend Yield | — | 1.46% |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Charles River Laboratories (CRL) trades at $286.36, up 3.38% today and near its 52-week high of $277.07. The stock shows strong technical momentum with bullish moving averages and has beaten earnings estimates for three consecutive quarters. Recent Q2 2026 results exceeded expectations with EPS of $3.02 versus $2.77 estimate, driving positive sentiment. However, valuation metrics remain elevated with P/E at 684.85 and negative profitability margins.
While technical indicators and analyst consensus (72% buy ratings) support near-term upside, fundamental concerns persist with negative net income margin (-5.96%) and ROE (-7.7%). The stock faces execution risks in maintaining earnings momentum amid competitive pressures. Current price exceeds consensus target of $277.29, suggesting limited near-term upside potential despite positive business inflection.
MSCI trades at $559.73, down 0.59% on the day, with a bearish technical signal from moving averages but a neutral oscillator stance. The company reported Q2 2026 earnings of $4.94 per share, slightly missing expectations, but maintains strong fundamentals with a 40.73% net income margin and $3.13 billion in 2025 revenue. Recent developments include the completed acquisition of First Street and a strategic partnership with UBS to enhance private markets transparency.
The stock presents a compelling opportunity with a consensus price target of $728.14, implying significant upside, supported by robust profitability and recurring revenue streams. Key risks include high valuation multiples, such as a P/E of 30.71, and substantial long-term debt of $4.51 billion, which could pressure equity if interest rates rise.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Charles River Laboratories was founded in 1947 and is a leading provider of drug discovery and development services. The company's research model & services segment is the leading provider of animal models for laboratory testing, which breeds and delivers animal research models with specific genetic characteristics for preclinical studies around the world. The discovery & safety assessment segment includes services required to take a drug through the early development process, including discovery services. The manufacturing support segment includes microbial solutions, which provides in vitro (non-animal) testing products, biologics testing services, and avian vaccine services.
Read more on CRL →MSCI describes its mission as enabling investors to build better portfolios for a better world. MSCI's largest and most profitable segment is its index segment, where it provides benchmarking to asset managers and asset owners. In addition, it boasts over $1 trillion in ETF assets linked to MSCI indexes. The MSCI analytics segment provides portfolio management and risk management analytics software to asset managers and asset owners. MSCI's all other segment was broken out into ESG and climate and private assets segments in 2021. In ESG and climate, MSCI provides ESG data to the investment industry. In the private assets side, MSCI provides real restate reporting, market data, benchmarking, and analytics to investors and real estate managers.
Read more on MSCI →