Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc vs BIO-TECHNE Corp — how do they compare? Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc trades at $281.43 (market cap $13.22B), while BIO-TECHNE Corp trades at $72.13 (market cap $11.24B). The key difference: Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc is the larger of the two by market cap, and BIO-TECHNE Corp pays a 0.44% dividend while Charles River Laboratories Intl. Inc pays none. Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| CRL | TECH | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $13.22B | $11.24B |
Sector | Health | Health |
52-Week High | $277.00 | $72.29 |
52-Week Low | $145.57 | $43.31 |
Enterprise Value | $16.06B | $11.32B |
Dividend Yield | — | 0.44% |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
Charles River Laboratories (CRL) trades at $267.49, up 0.75% on the day, with a bullish technical signal from moving averages but overbought RSI readings. The company reported strong Q2 2026 earnings, beating estimates with EPS of $3.02 versus $2.77 expected, and raised full-year guidance. Despite negative net income margins and high valuation multiples, analyst sentiment remains overwhelmingly positive with 72% buy ratings.
CRL shows operational strength with consistent earnings beats and improved demand, yet faces risks from high debt and profitability challenges. The consensus price target of $277.29 suggests modest upside, but investors must weigh growth prospects against valuation concerns and macroeconomic pressures on biotech spending.
Bio-Techne (TECH) trades at $72.29, up 0.54% today, with a bullish technical signal from moving averages and a consensus analyst price target of $71.67. Recent earnings showed mixed results, with a Q4 2025 beat but a Q1 2026 miss. The company maintains strong gross margins at 64.96% but faces declining net income margins, down to 6.01% in 2025. Positive cash flow trends and a pending acquisition by Merck highlight ongoing corporate developments.
Outlook is balanced with growth potential from product innovation and acquisition synergies, but risks include earnings volatility, high valuation multiples, and shareholder litigation over the merger terms. Institutional sentiment is split evenly between buy and hold ratings, reflecting cautious optimism amid execution challenges.
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 →