We publish no single base value for Charles River Laboratories. Our valuation methods put it between $87.11 and $139.82 a share. The valuation code's reason: no point fair value: the two anchors behind it compound the same growth rate and differ only in how they end — a perpetuity at the terminal rate against a multiple on the final year — so the midpoint between them measures terminal treatment rather than what the business is worth. The published range is the same reading with the false precision removed: read it as the span the method supports, and treat neither edge as a point estimate.
| Method | Value | vs price | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Discounted cash flow | $87.11 | -74.4% | free cash flow $399.63m, growth -2.2% for 5 years, then fading to 3% over 5 more, discounted at 10.17%; stress floor $73.62 |
| Exit multiple (P/E) | $139.82 | -59.0% | earnings per share $11.47 valued at 19.68× (the stock's own median P/E) in 5 years, discounted back |
| Sum of the parts | — | — | no sum of the parts: this run holds no segment disclosure for the name |
| Price to sales | — | — | not reached: the cash-flow or earnings methods produced an anchor, so this fallback was not run |
| Tangible book | — | — | used only for lenders, where book value is the business |
| Price to FFO (REITs) | — | — | used only for REITs |
Each working is rebuilt by code from the valuation's own figures and checked against the published value.
The discount rate:
| Risk-free rate | 5.13% (10-year US Treasury yield) |
| Company's own beta | 1.36 (5 years of monthly returns against the S&P 500; standard error 0.30) |
| Peer beta | 1.17 (median of 8 S&P 500 Life Sciences Tools & Services companies) |
| Blend of own and peers | 1.19 (10% own, 90% peers, weighted by how precisely the company's own beta is measured) |
| Adjusted beta | 1.12 (0.67 × 1.19 + 0.33, pulled toward the market's 1.0) |
| Equity risk premium | 4.5% |
| Discount rate = risk-free + adjusted beta × premium | 10.17% |
Free cash flow grows -2.20% a year for 5 years, then fades in equal steps toward 3% over 5 more; each year is discounted by 1 ÷ (1 + rate)^year:
| Year | Growth | Free cash flow | Discount factor | Present value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Now | — | $399.63m | — | — |
| Year 1 | -2.20% | $390.84m | 0.9077 | $354.76m |
| Year 2 | -2.20% | $382.24m | 0.8239 | $314.93m |
| Year 3 | -2.20% | $373.83m | 0.7478 | $279.57m |
| Year 4 | -2.20% | $365.61m | 0.6788 | $248.18m |
| Year 5 | -2.20% | $357.57m | 0.6161 | $220.31m |
| Year 6 | -1.33% | $352.80m | 0.5593 | $197.31m |
| Year 7 | -0.47% | $351.15m | 0.5076 | $178.26m |
| Year 8 | 0.40% | $352.56m | 0.4608 | $162.45m |
| Year 9 | 1.27% | $357.02m | 0.4182 | $149.32m |
| Year 10 | 2.13% | $364.64m | 0.3796 | $138.43m |
| Terminal value = year-10 cash flow × (1 + 3%) ÷ (10.17% − 3%) | $5.24bn |
| Terminal value in today's money | $1.99bn |
| Present value of years 1–10 | $2.24bn |
| Total present value | $4.23bn |
| Shares outstanding | 48.58m |
| Value per share = total ÷ shares | $87.11 |
How the DCF value moves with the discount rate and the starting growth (the middle cell is the published value):
| Discount rate | Growth -7.2% | Growth -2.2% | Growth 2.8% |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9.17% | $74.06 | $100.29 | $135.67 |
| 10.17% | $64.99 | $87.11 | $116.79 |
| 11.17% | $58.08 | $77.12 | $102.53 |
The same DCF at each beta, starting growth unchanged:
| Beta | Value | Discount rate | DCF value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company's own beta | 1.36 | 11.25% | $76.42 |
| Peer beta | 1.17 | 10.39% | $84.63 |
| Adjusted beta (used) | 1.12 | 10.17% | $87.11 |
Earnings per share grow on the same fading path as the DCF:
| Year | Growth | Earnings per share |
|---|---|---|
| Now | — | $11.47 |
| Year 1 | -2.20% | $11.22 |
| Year 2 | -0.64% | $11.15 |
| Year 3 | 0.45% | $11.20 |
| Year 4 | 1.22% | $11.33 |
| Year 5 | 1.75% | $11.53 |
| Earnings per share in year 5 | $11.53 |
| Exit P/E (the stock's own median P/E) | 19.68× |
| Value in 5 years = earnings × P/E | $226.93 |
| Discounted at 10.17% over 5 years: ÷ 1.6230 | $139.82 |
We publish no single base value for Charles River Laboratories. Our valuation methods put it between $87.11 and $139.82 a share. The valuation code's reason: no point fair value: the two anchors behind it compound the same growth rate and differ only in how they end — a perpetuity at the terminal rate against a multiple on the final year — so the midpoint between them measures terminal treatment rather than what the business is worth. The published range is the same reading with the false precision removed: read it as the span the method supports, and treat neither edge as a point estimate.
One-year price simulation: a 10% chance the price is below $181.81 and a 10% chance it is above $619.39 in a year; a 49% chance it is higher than today's $340.81, from 47.58% volatility. The simulation assumes the price drifts up at our discount rate of 10.17% a year.
At $340.81 the price implies free cash flow growing 21.5% a year for five years and then fading toward 3% over five more; its revenue has grown -2.2%.
| Week | Price | Base value |
|---|---|---|
| 2 Oct 2026 | $290.19 | — |
| 9 Oct 2026 | $301.79 | — |
| 16 Oct 2026 | $300.15 | — |
| 23 Oct 2026 | $345.37 | — |
| 30 Oct 2026 | $359.41 | — |
| 6 Nov 2026 | $337.52 | — |
| 12 Nov 2026 | $340.81 | — |
Data as of 12 Nov 2026; financials to 30 Sep 2026. Sources: company filings via EODHD, SEC EDGAR, US Treasury. How these values are computed. Not investment advice.
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