New York, Feb 13, 2026, 18:20 EST — After-hours
- ICON rebounded roughly 16% Friday, clawing back some ground after plunging nearly 40% the previous day.
- The company has yanked its 2025 guidance and delayed its full-year report until late April, citing an ongoing internal accounting review.
- Wall Street slashed ratings and price targets. Investors are turning their attention to updated financials and the results of the internal control review.
Shares of ICON plc bounced roughly 16% to $93 in after-hours trade Friday, recouping some losses after tumbling earlier on an accounting probe and postponed earnings. The stock moved between $78.88 and $96.47 during the session, with trading volume hitting around 14.2 million shares.
The contract research firm’s audit committee has launched an internal probe into some accounting practices and internal controls, following concerns flagged by management. ICON noted that external lawyers have taken charge of the investigation, backed by forensic and technical accounting teams. The company now anticipates disclosing at least one “material weakness” in its internal controls over financial reporting. (ICON plc)
This is significant; in the clinical-trials services world, deciding exactly when to recognize revenue isn’t always straightforward. A material weakness, essentially, signals there’s a flaw in oversight—a hole big enough that a serious error in the books might go unnoticed.
ICON, in a Form 6-K filing, disclosed it’s examining how revenue was recognized across fiscal 2023 to 2025, flagging that early findings suggest revenue for 2023 and 2024 “may have been overstated by less than two percent” per year. The company noted it hasn’t found any effect on customers so far from the practices in question. Board Chair Ciaran Murray emphasized a commitment to “transparency, accountability and strong governance,” and CEO Barry Balfe said ICON is already putting “corrective actions” in place to shore up controls. (Stock Titan)
The company scrapped its earlier 2025 forecast and now expects to report fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 numbers by April 30. The news hammered the stock, which tumbled almost 40% Thursday—its weakest finish in seven years—and left the contract research sector rattled. (MarketWatch)
Michael Cherny at Leerink Partners cut ICON to Market Perform from Outperform, slashing his price target down to $105 from $220. He flagged ongoing uncertainty, calling out the “murkiness of the path forward.” Despite the stock looking cheaper, Cherny wrote, “we simply cannot pitch this stock” while cancellations and margin issues persist for the group. (Streetinsider)
BofA Securities dropped its rating to Underperform and chopped its target price down to $75 from $195, warning that accounting issues “will completely shake” the ICLR investment thesis. (Investing)
Investors have little choice but to wait while auditors sort out the numbers and the company releases refreshed figures. Timing is nearly as critical here as the size of any revenue tweaks.
The risk is clear. The probe might expand, the auditor could push for more sweeping revisions, and the delay has the potential to affect client actions—sponsors might hold off on awards or revisit contract terms. Go too long without updated financials, and what started as a single disclosure becomes a lingering drag.
Investors now await word from the company on how broad the investigation will be and when it might wrap up. ICON still plans to post its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 numbers by April 30, as previously indicated.
