New York, Feb 12, 2026, 12:05 EST — Regular session
- ICON shares slid about 39% as the company disclosed an internal accounting investigation and withdrew 2025 guidance.
- The clinical trial outsourcer pushed its full-year 2025 results to on or before April 30.
- Wall Street now waits for revised numbers and Friday’s U.S. inflation report.
ICON plc shares were down about 39% at $81.01 in midday trade on Thursday, after the contract research firm disclosed an internal accounting investigation and delayed its annual results. The stock hit a session low of $67.19 and traded as high as $131.90, with about 14.6 million shares changing hands.
ICON said it plans to release fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 results on or prior to April 30 and is running an audit committee-led review into accounting practices and controls. The probe focuses on revenue recognition — the rules for when sales get booked — and the company said it expects to report one or more “material weaknesses,” meaning shortcomings in controls that can raise the risk of misstatements. “The ICON Board of Directors is committed to transparency, accountability and strong governance,” Chair Ciaran Murray said, while CEO Barry Balfe said the company is rolling out “corrective actions to enhance our internal controls.” (ICON plc)
The slide landed as the broader market was already under pressure, with the S&P 500 tracker SPY down about 1.1% and the Nasdaq 100 tracker QQQ off about 1.6%.
Investors have been recalibrating rate expectations after U.S. job growth for January came in stronger than forecasts, a mix that can keep the Federal Reserve cautious on cuts. (Reuters)
ICON said preliminary indications are that revenue in 2023 and 2024 may have been overstated by less than 2% for each year, and it withdrew its previously issued full-year 2025 financial guidance. The company added it has not identified any impact to customers from the practices under review. (Streetinsider)
Analyst reaction was swift. Evercore ISI analyst Elizabeth Anderson suspended her rating, while Leerink Partners’ Michael Cherny downgraded the stock and cut his price target to $105 from $220, citing uncertainty and “ongoing pressures on cancellations and margins,” according to Investors Business Daily. (Investors)
Evercore said it pulled coverage because there was not “sufficient fundamental basis” to publish a rating or target price until revised financials are released, StreetInsider reported. The firm also laid out a wide range of potential earnings impact tied to any revenue adjustment, underscoring the lack of visibility. (Streetinsider)
ICON, headquartered in Dublin, sells outsourced clinical trial work to drugmakers and biotech firms — long projects where timing and accounting can matter as much as pipeline demand. Even small shifts in booked revenue can ripple through margins, cash flow and debt metrics that investors model quarter by quarter.
But there are obvious unknowns. The investigation could widen, the restatement could grow, or the timeline could slip again — and prolonged uncertainty risks distracting management and unsettling customers, even if the company says service delivery has not been hit.
Markets now look to two clocks: ICON’s delayed 2025 results by April 30, and the U.S. consumer price index for January due Friday, Feb. 13 at 8:30 a.m. (Bls)
