Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc vs BIO-TECHNE Corp — how do they compare? Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc trades at $228.98 (market cap $11.14B), while BIO-TECHNE Corp trades at $71.23 (market cap $11.10B). The key difference: Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc and BIO-TECHNE Corp are close in size by market cap, and BIO-TECHNE Corp pays a 0.45% dividend while Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc pays none. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| CRL | TECH | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $11.14B | $11.10B |
Sector | Health | Health |
52-Week High | $233.60 | $71.38 |
52-Week Low | $145.57 | $43.31 |
Enterprise Value | $14.00B | $11.18B |
Dividend Yield | — | 0.45% |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Charles River Laboratories (CRL) trades at $229.75, down 1.57% on the day, near its consensus price target of $229.80. The stock shows a bullish technical trend with strong moving average signals and support at $225. Fundamentally, CRL has beaten EPS estimates for three consecutive quarters but reported a net loss of $144.34 million in 2025, with negative profit margins. Recent news highlights collaborations in AI and NGS services, supporting growth prospects.
Outlook remains mixed: analyst consensus is strongly bullish with 72% buy ratings and a high target of $260, but profitability challenges and high P/E of 684.85 pose risks. Cash flow stability and strategic partnerships offer upside, while margin pressures and debt levels require monitoring for sustained recovery.
Bio-Techne (TECH) trades at $71.36, showing minimal daily movement (+0.08%) as the market digests Merck KGaA's $73 per share acquisition offer. The stock sits just 2.3% below the buyout price, with technical indicators showing bullish momentum. Fundamentally, the company maintains strong gross margins (64.96%) but faces declining net income margins (6.01% in 2025). Recent earnings show mixed results with one beat and two misses in the last four quarters.
The acquisition premium provides near-term upside potential, though shareholder litigation risks exist regarding deal fairness. Long-term investors face uncertainty about post-acquisition prospects, while current valuation metrics (P/E 101.94) appear stretched without the takeover scenario. The $73 offer price represents the primary catalyst, with downside risk to $50 if the deal fails.
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 →Based in Minnesota, Bio-Techne is a life sciences manufacturer supplying consumables and instruments for the pharma, biotech, academic, and diagnostic markets. The company reports in two segments, protein sciences (75% of revenue), and diagnostics and genomics (25%). The protein-focused segment makes equipment and associated consumables for protein characterization and analysis and sells antibodies for research and clinical purposes. In diagnostics, Bio-Techne provides controls and calibrators for diagnostic manufacturers and has a portfolio of diagnostic oncology assays. The United States accounts for about 55% of revenue, and the firm also has operations in EMEA (20% of sales), the U.K. (5%), and APAC (15%), with the rest of the world accounting for the remaining 5%.
Read more on TECH →