Charles River Laboratories

Track record is mixed. Positives: disciplined deleveraging, opportunistic repurchases with a fresh 1.0 billion dollar authorization, and pragmatic capex moderation.

Negatives: the 2021‑2023 push into CGT CDMO (Cognate, Vigene, Biologics Solutions) has under‑earned and required a 215 million dollar goodwill impairment in 4Q24 and a 2025 commercial client loss.

The 2025 strategic review is narrowing focus, targeting the divestiture of underperforming or non‑core assets equal to about 7 percent of revenue with at least 30 cents of annualized non‑GAAP EPS accretion once completed. YTD 2025 buybacks of roughly 350 million dollars reduced shares outstanding to 49.2 million by late October.

Overall, capital deployment is improving and aligned with shareholder value, but prior missteps keep our score below the best‑in‑class CROs.