Charles River Laboratories vs Illumina
Add, change or remove companies; up to four.
The short version
- Illumina is the larger business, with $4.3B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $4.0B for Charles River Laboratories.
- Illumina kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (18.6% operating margin, against 0.6%).
- Illumina turned more of its sales into free cash flow (21.4% FCF margin, against 12.9%).
- Illumina earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (20.3%, against 0.4%).
| Latest fiscal year | CRL · FY25 | ILMN · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $16.6B | $41.2B |
| Revenue | $4.0B | $4.3B |
| Free cash flow | $518M | $931M |
| Net income | −$144M | $850M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −0.9% | −0.7% |
| 5-year growth | 6.6% | 6.0% |
| Share count change | −4.0% | −1.9% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | 66.1% |
| Operating margin | 0.6% | 18.6% |
| Net margin | −3.6% | 19.6% |
| FCF margin | 12.9% | 21.4% |
| Return on capital | 0.4% | 20.3% |
| Return on equity | −4.4% | 33.4% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $1.9B | $356M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 4.5x | 0.3x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $361M | $742M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | — | 50.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 8 |
Revenue
FY16
CRL $1.7B
ILMN $2.4B
FY17
CRL $1.9B
ILMN $2.8B
FY18
CRL $2.3B
ILMN $3.3B
FY19
CRL $2.6B
ILMN $3.5B
FY20
CRL $2.9B
ILMN $3.2B
FY21
CRL $3.5B
ILMN $4.5B
FY22
CRL $4.0B
ILMN $4.6B
FY23
CRL $4.1B
ILMN $4.5B
FY24
CRL $4.1B
ILMN $4.4B
FY25
CRL $4.0B
ILMN $4.3B
CRL
ILMN
Operating margin
FY16
CRL 14.1%
ILMN 24.5%
FY17
CRL 15.5%
ILMN 22.0%
FY18
CRL 14.6%
ILMN 26.5%
FY19
CRL 13.4%
ILMN 27.8%
FY20
CRL 14.8%
ILMN 17.9%
FY21
CRL 16.7%
ILMN −2.7%
FY22
CRL 16.4%
ILMN −91.2%
FY23
CRL 15.0%
ILMN −23.7%
FY24
CRL 5.6%
ILMN −19.1%
FY25
CRL 0.6%
ILMN 18.6%
CRL
ILMN
Free cash flow
FY16
CRL $262M
ILMN $519M
FY17
CRL $236M
ILMN $565M
FY18
CRL $301M
ILMN $846M
FY19
CRL $340M
ILMN $842M
FY20
CRL $380M
ILMN $891M
FY21
CRL $532M
ILMN $337M
FY22
CRL $295M
ILMN $106M
FY23
CRL $365M
ILMN $283M
FY24
CRL $502M
ILMN $709M
FY25
CRL $518M
ILMN $931M
CRL
ILMN
Return on capital
FY16
CRL 10.1%
ILMN 26.9%
FY17
CRL 7.5%
ILMN 21.4%
FY18
CRL 11.4%
ILMN 34.3%
FY19
CRL 9.8%
ILMN 35.3%
FY20
CRL 9.9%
ILMN 18.7%
FY21
CRL 11.1%
ILMN −1.7%
FY22
CRL 9.9%
ILMN −39.7%
FY23
CRL 8.9%
ILMN −13.3%
FY24
CRL 2.0%
ILMN −14.1%
FY25
CRL 0.4%
ILMN 20.3%
CRL
ILMN
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.