Here’s Why ICON Plc. (ICLR) Gained +20.3% in Q3

GreensKeeper Asset Management, an investment management company, released its third-quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. The Value Fund has ended the quarter with a +4.0% gain, taking the YTD return to +0.2% net of fees and expenses. The US dollar continued to pose a challenge, negatively impacting performance by -3.7% so far this year. The year’s market rally was primarily led by AI, crypto, and speculation. In addition, you can check the fund’s top 5 holdings to determine its best picks for 2025.

In its third-quarter 2025 investor letter, GreensKeeper Asset Management highlighted stocks such as ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR). Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) is a clinical research organization.  The one-month return for ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) was 14.89%, and its shares lost 10.74% over the last 52 weeks. On December 16, 2025, ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) stock closed at $182.45 per share, with a market capitalization of $14.19 billion.

GreensKeeper Asset Management stated the following regarding ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) in its third quarter 2025 investor letter:

“Our second top contributor in the quarter was ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) +20.3%. We first purchased shares of ICLR earlier this year as tariff exposures, most-favoured-nation pricing, and looming patent cliffs led many investors to fear that pharmaceutical companies were about to significantly reduce their R&D investment. While the short-term industry dynamics were murky, we thought the market’s reaction was excessively punitive. Admittedly, we did not have high visibility into ICLR’s 2025 earnings. Still, we believed the company’s long track record of execution and the benefits it brings to pharmaceutical R&D would enable it to weather a challenging period.

Our view is that clinical trials will get funded and that total industry R&D spending will continue to grow. Not much has changed since our original purchase, and the next few quarters are likely to remain challenging for the CRO industry. But pharmaceutical companies are starting to reach agreements with the Trump administration, which should provide them with greater clarity on tariffs and drug pricing. That in turn will enable them to recommit to large-scale clinical trials. ICLR continues to be well-positioned to benefit from the increasing need for larger, longer, and more globally diverse clinical trials required by therapies such as GLP-1s.”

In another article, we covered ICON Public Limited Company (NASDAQ:ICLR) and shared Polen International Growth Strategy’s views on the company. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q3 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors.

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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.