By Sam Boughedda
Investing.com -- Iqvia Holdings Inc (NYSE:IQV) shares are down over 5% Tuesday, despite the company reporting its fourth-quarter numbers that beat analyst estimates on both earnings and revenue.
Iqvia, formerly Quintiles and IMS Health, provides advanced analytics, technology solutions, and clinical research services to the life sciences industry.
The company announced earnings per share of $2.55 on revenue of $3.64 billion. Analysts polled by Investing.com predicted EPS of $2.43 on revenue of $3.59 billion. Revenue for the quarter grew 10.2% year-over-year, driven by a 15% rise in its research & development solutions unit.
The company sees first quarter 2022 revenue between $3.51 billion and $3.57 billion, representing growth of 4.8% to 6.6%, with earnings per share for the quarter between $2.40 and $2.46, representing a 7.5% to 9.5% increase.
For the full year of 2022, Iqvia reaffirmed the revenue guidance range of $14.7 billion to $15 billion provided at its Analyst and Investor Conference in November. The company said this is despite a $70 million revenue headwind from foreign currency exchange rates changes. As a result, adjusted earnings per share for 2022 is expected to be between $9.95 and $10.25.
"We closed 2021 with an impressive quarter, delivering robust growth across all key financial metrics versus what was a strong fourth quarter of 2020," said Ari Bousbib, chairman and CEO of IQVIA.
"We had a record year of net new business in R&DS, strong double-digit revenue growth for the year in both our R&DS and TAS segments, and a record year of free cash flow generation. We are now two-thirds of the way through our Vision 22 plan and are on a path to achieving or exceeding our targets," he added.
After initially opening up the session higher at $245.01 per share, Iqvia is now down more than 5%. However, Stifel responded to the decline, saying that despite "very strong earnings numbers and a strong outlook" the decline may be due to volatility concerns in emerging biopharma funding due to a competitor's recent issues. According to TheFly, the analyst said he would be buying Iqvia shares on today's dip.