ICON PLC (NASDAQ:ICLR) stock rose 0.91% (As on January 17, 11:27:06 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company upgraded by Barclays overweight from equal weight with a price target of $260.00. Gross business wins in the third quarter were $2,740 million and cancellations were $389 million. This resulted in net business wins of $2,351 million and a book to bill of 1.21. Revenue for Quarter 3 was $1,942.4 million. This represents an increase of 3.9% on prior year adjusted revenue or 7.4% on a constant currency organic basis. Adjusted net income attributable to the Group for the quarter was $247.2 million resulting in an adjusted diluted earnings per share of $3.00 compared to $2.55 per share for Quarter 3 2021. Adjusted EBITDA for Quarter 3 was $379.6 million or 19.5% of revenue, a year on year increase of 16.9%. Net business wins in the quarter of $2,351 million; a net book to bill of 1.21, and 1.24 on a trailing twelve month basis. Closing backlog of $20.2 billion, an increase of 1.3% on Q2 2022 or an increase of 9.0% on Q3 2021.

Cash generated from operating activities for the quarter was $213.8 million. During the quarter, $37.3 million was spent on capital expenditure. At September 30, 2022, the Group had cash and cash equivalents of $609.2 million, compared to cash and cash equivalents of $614.9 million at June 30, 2022 and $1,008.5 million at September 30, 2021. During the quarter, a $200 million Term Loan B payment was made resulting in a net indebtedness balance of $4.2 billion at September 30, 2022, bringing the net debt balance to 2.9x Net debt to adjusted EBITDA as of the end of the third quarter.

For 2023, the company expects revenue to be in the range of $7.94 billion – $8.34 billion, a growth of 3.3% – 6.8% from previous year. The company expects adjusted earnings per share to be in the range of $12.40 – $13.05, representing growth of 6.4% – 10.1%. The company expects to be Circa $1.1 billion of free cash flow and capital expenditures of circa $200 million. Interest expense to be in the range of $280 – $300 million. Hedging solution finalized resulting in proportion of fixed debt amounting to circa 60% of total debt.

With respect to 2022, the company reaffirmed its guidance of revenue in the range of $7.69 billion – $7.81 billion and adjusted earnings per share in the range of $11.65 – $11.85.