Healthcare

Outsourced Development and Manufacturing Services

14 investable US stocks · data to Saturday, October 24, 2026

Acquirer's Multiple percentile today60th percentile

Dearer than in 79% of quarters since 1999Its usual range since 1999 is the 39th to 64th percentile (the middle 80% of quarters), with a median of the 52nd. Lower is cheaper: the 10th percentile is cheaper than 90% of the investable US market; the 50th is the middle.

Is it cheap because returns are depressed?

The industry is dear against its own past, and even though returns on assets are depressed (lower than in 74% of quarters). Free cash flow yield is low (lower than in 88% of quarters), so the cash doesn't support the premium. A low multiple can be warranted when returns on assets are low, and a high one when they are high, so the multiple reads best next to returns and free cash flow, each against the industry's own history.

Over- or under-earning?

Under-earning

Return on assets ranks at the 41st percentile of investable US stocks, against a median of the 60th and a low of the 15th since 1999. That is well below its usual level, so it may be under-earning, and today's multiple is likely too high on a normalized basis. If earnings normalize, the multiple would likely fall: from the 60th percentile today (dearer than 60% of investable US stocks) to around the 52nd (about the middle of the market), judging by where it sat in past quarters when returns were at their usual level.

Percentile	Today	Returns normal	Returns at low
Return on assets (higher is better)	41st	60th (median)	15th (low)
Acquirer's Multiple (lower is cheaper)	60th	52nd	n/a

Outsourced Development and Manufacturing Services's return on assets as a percentile, quarterly since 1999. The shaded band is its usual range; the dashed line its median.

Percentiles among investable US stocks. Return on assets is operating income over total assets, trailing 12 months. The last two columns show where it sat in past quarters when returns were within 7.5 points of their median (48 quarters) and of their low (1). The past, not a forecast.

Against its own history

Each chart is the industry's median stock as a percentile of all investable US stocks, quarterly since 1999. For the Acquirer's Multiple and debt to equity, lower is better. The shaded band is its usual range (the middle 80% of quarters); the dashed line is its long-run median; the dot is today. Green shading marks the better end of each scale and red the worse, and today's dot takes the colour of where it sits.

Acquirer's MultipleDearer than usualPercentile of enterprise value ÷ operating income: lower is cheaper. Dearer than in 79% of quarters since 1999.

Free cash flow yieldLower than usualPercentile of free cash flow yield: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 88% of quarters since 1999.

Shareholder yieldUsual rangeDividends plus buybacks, as a percentile: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 63% of quarters since 1999.

Dividend yieldUsual rangePercentile of dividend yield: higher is a bigger yield. Lower than in 59% of quarters since 1999.

Return on assets, 5-yrWeaker than usualPercentile of five-year return on assets: higher is better. Lower than in 74% of quarters since 1999.

Debt to equityMore debt than usualPercentile of debt to equity: lower is less debt. More indebted than in 83% of quarters since 1999.

Company sizeLarger than usualPercentile of market cap: higher is larger. Larger than in 79% of quarters since 1999.

Outsourced Development and Manufacturing Services stocks in the screens today

In today's screens, cheapest first. ● marks one of a screen's 30 tracked picks.

Stock	Screen	Acquirer's Multiple	FCF yield	Shareholder yield

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Other Healthcare industries

Non-System-Specific Biopharmaceuticals cheaper than 77%Other Biopharmaceuticals cheaper than 75%Other Medical Devices cheaper than 69%Diagnostics and Drug Delivery Devices dearer than 51%System-Specific Biopharmaceuticals dearer than 59%Patient Care dearer than 73%Healthcare Support Services dearer than 79%Miscellaneous Healthcare dearer than 93%General Medical Devices dearer than 97%

Quarterly since 1999 from point-in-time data. Each quarter, every investable US stock (price above $3, market cap above $75M, average daily trading above $850,000, no OTC, ADRs or MLPs) is placed in a percentile (0-100) against all the others on each metric. An industry's value is the median percentile of its stocks. Industries follow FactSet's RBICS classification. Percentiles describe the past; they are not investment advice or a forecast.