What Happened?

Shares of clinical research company Medpace Holdings (NASDAQ:MEDP) fell 8.7% in the pre-market session after the company reported weak fourth-quarter results: Medpace's full-year revenue, EPS, and EBITDA guidance fell short of Wall Street's estimates. The weaker-than-expected outlook suggests slowing business momentum, as reflected in the declining book-to-bill ratio of 0.99x. On the other hand, the company exceeded analysts' EPS and EBITDA expectations this quarter.Overall, this quarter could have been better.

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What The Market Is Telling Us

Medpace’s shares are somewhat volatile and have had 12 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

Medpace is down 1.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $328.72 per share, it is trading 28.1% below its 52-week high of $457.29 from July 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Medpace’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $3,392.

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