Fortrea Holdings Inc.

Fortrea Holdings is a contract research organization, or CRO. That is a firm that pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies hire to test new treatments in people. It manages clinical trials from phase I, the first small safety tests, through phase IV, the monitoring done after a product is approved. It also sells consulting on development, regulatory and market-access strategy. Its 10-K, filed February 26, 2026, lists about 14,300 employees and the reach to work in about 100 countries.

Fortrea is paid to run studies for its customers. Clinical Development runs phase I–IV trials, and its 10-K says it has been the company's largest offering by revenue for the last five years. Customers can hand Fortrea a whole program (Full Service), use Fortrea staff for specific tasks (Functional Service Provider), or mix the two (Hybrid). A Clinical Pharmacology unit runs first-in-human and other early studies in its own clinics in Leeds, U.K., and in Dallas, Daytona and Madison in the U.S. The company reports a single segment, Clinical Services.

Labcorp, its former parent, spun Fortrea off as a separate public company in 2023. In 2024 Fortrea sold its Enabling Services businesses, Fortrea Patient Access and Endpoint Clinical. In the year ended December 31, 2025, revenue was $2.72 billion: 47.4% from North America, 31.3% from Europe and 21.4% from other regions.

• In Q3 FY2026 (ended Sep 30, 2026), revenue was $691.5M, down 1.4% from a year earlier, and net income was $600K.
• For fiscal 2025, revenue was $2.72B (+1.0% year over year; -1.4% a year from FY2022 to FY2025) with a -36.2% net margin.

• Over FY2021–FY2025: $0.00 in buybacks and $0.00 in dividends.
• The company pays no regular dividend.
• Shares outstanding changed +8.7% from Aug 11, 2023 to Oct 27, 2026.

Rank among 1514 US companies

Market value at each year end

Fortrea Holdings’s market value went from $3.10B at the end of 2023 to $2.50B on Oct 28, 2026, down 19%; since the end of 2025 it is up 57%.

Form 4 filings from 2025-10-30 to 2026-10-30 (25 read): 0 open-market purchases and 16 sales ($4.6M).

Large shareholders (13G filings)

ETFs with the most weight in FTRE

1. New contract wins may fall short. Fortrea needs a steady flow of new trial contracts, which it calls net new business awards. Awards can be delayed, canceled or shrunk, and some of its backlog of signed work may never become revenue.
2. Studies can be underpriced or overrun. Fortrea takes the financial hit when a study costs more than it priced, runs late, or is cut back or ended early, including for reasons outside its control.
3. Leftover liabilities from the Labcorp spin-off. Fortrea may have to compensate Labcorp for certain liabilities under their separation agreements. Labcorp's promise to cover other liabilities may not be enough, or Labcorp may be unable to pay.
4. Heavy debt limits flexibility. As of June 30, 2026, Fortrea had about $1.05 billion of debt and $168.6 million of cash and investments. Interest costs and loan covenants (conditions set by lenders) may limit cash for running the business.
5. Trials need investigators and patients. Fortrea must sign up suitable investigators, the medical researchers who run trial sites, and enroll enough patients. Slow recruitment can delay studies and the revenue tied to them.
6. Drug developers' budgets drive demand. Revenue depends on how much drug and device makers spend on research. Some customers may run out of money mid-trial. The 10-K says biotech funding slowed in the first half of 2025, then began to strengthen.

• Oct 29, 2026 Quarterly results released
• Sep 30, 2026 Executive or board change
• Sep 10, 2026 Executive or board change
• Jul 29, 2026 Quarterly results released; Executive or board change
• Jul 14, 2026 Executive or board change
• Jun 26, 2026 Executive or board change; Investor presentation or announcement
• Jun 12, 2026 Shareholder vote results
• May 5, 2026 Quarterly results released
• Feb 26, 2026 Quarterly results released
• Nov 20, 2025 Investor presentation or announcement

Fortrea pays no dividend. Its 10-K says it has not paid any and has no plans to start, so returns depend entirely on the share price. An investor who needs income would have to sell shares. The company made no buybacks (purchases of its own shares) from fiscal 2021 through 2025. Its share count rose 7.1%, from 88.8 million on August 11, 2023, to 95.1 million on July 27, 2026, which shrinks each existing owner's slice.

Fortrea has traded only since its 2023 spin-off from Labcorp, so it has no record in the 2008, 2020 or 2022 market downturns. Its short history has been rough. The stock fell 46.6% in 2024, and its deepest drop from a peak in the three years to October 28, 2026, was 89.9%. It rose 143.7% in the year to that date but was still 10.1% below where it began trading in 2023. A single stock like this carries more risk than a diversified fund.