Shares of Fortrea Holdings Inc. (FTRE) surged over 32% in pre-market trading on Thursday, after the contract research organization (CRO) reported better-than-expected third-quarter results and raised its full-year revenue outlook.

For Q3 2024, Fortrea posted revenue of $674.9 million, down 5.5% year-over-year but in line with analysts' estimates. While the company reported a GAAP net loss of $18.5 million, its adjusted EBITDA of $64.2 million exceeded Wall Street's expectations of $61.9 million.

The highlight of Fortrea's quarterly performance was its robust bookings growth, with the book-to-bill ratio reaching an impressive 1.23x. This strong booking activity drove the company's backlog to $7.57 billion, signaling solid demand for its clinical trial services amid challenging industry conditions.

Based on this momentum, Fortrea raised the upper end of its full-year 2024 revenue guidance to $2.73 billion from $2.75 billion, though the lower end remained unchanged at $2.7 billion. The company maintained its adjusted EBITDA guidance range of $220 million to $240 million for the year.

While Fortrea's adjusted earnings of $0.23 per share for Q3 narrowly missed analysts' expectations of $0.25, investors appear to be focusing on the company's ability to drive bookings and revenue growth in a difficult environment. The stock's sharp rally suggests the market is optimistic about Fortrea's prospects as it executes on its robust backlog.