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Qnity Electronics, Inc. Q2 FY2025 Earnings Call

Qnity Electronics, Inc. (Q)

Earnings Call FY2025 Q2 Call date: 2025-06-30 Concluded

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Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us. I would like to welcome everyone to the IQVIA Second Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. This call is being recorded. Thank you. I will now turn the call over to Kerri Joseph, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasury. Mr. Joseph, please proceed.

Kerri Joseph Head of Investor Relations

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our second quarter 2025 earnings call. With me today are Ari Bousbib, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Ron Bruehlman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Eric Sherbet, Executive Vice President and General Counsel; Mike Fedock, Senior Vice President of Financial Planning and Analysis; and Gustavo Perrone, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Today, we will be referencing a presentation that will be visible during this call for those of you on our webcast. This presentation will also be available following this call on the Events and Presentations section of our IQVIA Investor Relations website at ir.iqvia.com. Before we begin, I would like to caution listeners that certain information discussed by management during this conference call will include forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied by forward-looking statements due to risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business, which are discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including our annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent SEC filings. In addition, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures on this call, which should be considered as a supplement to and not a substitute for financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP measures is included in the press release and conference call presentation. I would now like to turn the call over to our Chairman and CEO, Ari Bousbib.

Ari Bousbib Chairman

Thank you, Kerri, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today to discuss our second quarter results. IQVIA delivered another strong quarter. Revenue exceeded the high end of our guidance range as we reported over $4 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time in our history. Adjusted EBITDA and adjusted diluted EPS came in towards the high end of our guidance range. As expected, TAS continued to perform well in the second quarter supported by clients' commercial road map strategies and new drug launches. TAS reported revenue growth above our expectations at 8.9%, led by double-digit growth in real-world evidence. On the clinical side, our net bookings in the quarter were approximately $2.5 billion, translating to a net book-to-bill of 1.12x. Our booking performance improved in the quarter even as the overall market environment remains essentially unsettled, and there is still uncertainty persisting regarding future administration policies affecting the biopharmaceutical industry. Of course, this continues to cause some delays in decision-making on new programs, but the R&D team has reacted to this new environment by intensifying our See More, Win More go-to-market strategy aimed at expanding market gains. This strategy is helping the business navigate this period. In fact, the R&D team is seeing good traction from these efforts. Our qualified pipeline was up high single digits sequentially and year-over-year, driven mostly by the EBP segment. Importantly, we saw a meaningful uptick in RFP flow. Second quarter RFP flow grew low teens year-over-year and high single digits sequentially with growth in all customer segments. Our win rate improved significantly, most notably in the EBP segment. As a result, our backlog reached a new record of over $32 billion at the end of the quarter, growing over 5% compared to the prior year. Now let's look at the results of the quarter. We delivered strong revenue and profit results. Total revenue for the second quarter came in above the high end of our guidance range, representing year-over-year growth of 5.3% on a reported basis and 6.3% if you exclude the COVID-related work from both periods. At constant currency, revenue grew 3.6% and 4.6% excluding COVID. Second quarter adjusted EBITDA increased 2.6%, second quarter adjusted diluted EPS of $2.81, increased 6.4% year-over-year. Now let's review a few highlights of business activities. As you know, AI is a big deal for us. We are all in on this transformation. And as we've discussed before, a lot of work here is done with NVIDIA's support. IQVIA is developing AI agents that simplify operations across life sciences. In fact, NVIDIA showcased these agents in June at their flagship conference in Europe, where our smart platform was highlighted as a leading example of smart AI agentification. This collaboration develops custom-built AI agents using NVIDIA technology designed to streamline processes, enhance workflows and accelerate insights across the life sciences ecosystem. Use cases for these agentic offerings include target agentification, clinical data review, literature review, market assessment, and HCP engagement. This momentum has not gone unnoticed, reflecting the strength of our AI strategy and execution. Everest Group recently named IQVIA a front-runner generative AI leader for the life sciences industry in its reports, AI-deas to Action: Operationalizing Generative AI in Life Sciences. IQVIA was the only CRO to receive the highest ranking of front-runner in this report, which measures the value impact of end-to-end generative AI capabilities for 15 carefully selected broad-based AI companies, CROs, and life science specialists and niche firms. Let me now give you some color on TAS business activity. A top 10 pharma client selected IQVIA to advance their market access strategy for a breakthrough type 1 diabetes therapy entering Europe. By leveraging AI-driven insights and pricing expertise, IQVIA will help shape this value proposition, pricing, and contracting approach to support successful adoption. The European biotech client selected IQVIA to support the global launch of a novel oncology therapy. IQVIA is delivering a GenAI-powered assistant and HCP Persona insights. This solution will enable simulation of HCP behavior and precise targeting, showcasing IQVIA's unique blend of data, AI-enabled technology, as well as our expertise in product launch and the specific oncology therapeutic area. The top 10 pharma client awarded IQVIA a strategic engagement to support the launch of a novel oncology therapy in the U.S., delivering insights and technology infrastructure to ensure commercial success. The top 10 pharma client selected IQVIA to lead a global real-world safety and effectiveness study for a new dermatology treatment spanning 8 countries and 3,000 patients, which will support product adoption and long-term evidence generation. The European biotech company awarded IQVIA a global observational study to assess the real-world safety and effectiveness of a rare disease therapy in kidney disorders. The win highlights IQVIA's rare disease expertise, strong client partnership, and use of AI-enabled tools to optimize study design and delivery. Moving now to R&DS. We continue to win a significant portion of oncology-related trials. Our leadership in oncology research is exemplified by our recently announced strategic collaboration with Sarah Cannon Research Institute, one of the nation's leading oncology research hospital networks. This strategic collaboration aims to transform oncology trials globally. By uniting IQVIA's global scale and connected intelligence with SCRI's deep community oncology expertise, we are aiming to accelerate trial activation, boost recruitment, and streamline data capture of electronic health records, ultimately removing operational barriers and speeding the delivery of breakthrough therapies to patients. A few examples of significant wins the R&DS team had in the oncology space include a biotech client selecting IQVIA to lead the complex global Phase III colorectal cancer program. IQVIA was selected due to our oncology therapeutic expertise, proven track record, knowledge of the regulatory landscape, and our analytics capabilities. A rapidly scaling biotech selected IQVIA to lead 2 Phase III global pancreatic oncology trials, continuing a high-performing partnership with this client. A large pharma client selected IQVIA to lead a global Phase III MTS oncology trial, considering our successful collaboration with this client on this asset. Obesity is another therapeutic area where our performance has been particularly strong. A biotech client selected IQVIA to lead 2 global Phase III obesity trials leveraging our vast footprint and deep expertise in chronic weight management. The top 10 pharma clients selected IQVIA laboratories to support expansion of their next-generation GLP-1 development program, building on an existing partnership to investigate the drug's efficacy in treating obesity and type 2 diabetes. I also want to highlight our growing strength in cell and gene therapy trials. IQVIA was selected to manage a significant gene editing program for Wilson's disease, spanning both observational and interventional studies. The project deploys AI-enabled solutions that drive speed and precision in rare disease research. Finally, we were honored to be recently recognized for our innovation in facilitating decentralized trials. IQVIA was named the winner of the Best Mobile App for Patient Engagement at the 2025 Medtech Breakthrough Award. IQVIA's app empowers patients and caregivers to participate in decentralized trials from anywhere while ensuring strong privacy and security. The app has multilingual support and is available across many geographic regions, increasing patient access, engagement, and retention. And now to Ron for more details on our financial performance.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Ari, and good morning, everyone. We'll start by reviewing revenue. Second quarter revenue of $4,017 million was up 5.3% on a reported basis and 3.6% in constant currency. And excluding COVID-related work from this year and last, revenue grew 6.3% at actual currency and 4.6% constant currency. Technology & Analytics Solutions revenue for the second quarter was $1.628 billion, that's up 8.9% on a reported basis and 6.8% in constant currency. R&D Solutions reported revenue was $2.201 billion, up 2.5% reported and 1.3% at constant currency. Excluding the step-down in COVID-related revenues, R&DS revenue growth was 4.2% at actual currency and 3% at constant currency. Lastly, Contract Sales & Medical Solutions second quarter revenue was $188 million, and that was up 9.3% reported and 6.4% at constant currency. For the first half, total company revenue was $7,846 million, up 3.9% reported and 3.5% at constant currency. And excluding COVID-related work, revenue grew 4.8% at actual currency and approximately 4.5% in constant currency. Technology & Analytics Solutions revenue for the first half was $3.174 billion, up 7.7% reported and 7.2% at constant currency. R&D Solutions' first half revenue of $4.303 billion was up 1.4% reported and 1.2% at constant currency and excluding COVID-related work from both periods, revenue in R&DS grew 3.1% at actual currency and approximately 3% at constant currency for the half. Lastly, CSMS in the first half had revenue of $369 million, up 2.2% reported and 1.9% at constant currency. Okay. Moving down to P&L. Adjusted EBITDA was $910 million for the second quarter while first half adjusted EBITDA was $1.793 billion. Second quarter GAAP net income was $266 million, and GAAP diluted earnings per share was $1.54. For the first half, GAAP net income was $515 million or $2.94 of earnings per diluted share. Adjusted net income was $486 million for the second quarter and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $2.81, up 6.4%. For the first half, adjusted net income was $965 million or $5.50 per diluted share that being up 6.2% year-over-year. R&DS backlog at June 30 was $32.1 billion, an increase of 5.1% year-over-year. Next 12 months revenue from backlog was $8.1 billion, growing 4.8% year-over-year. Let's review balance sheet metrics now. As of June 30, cash and cash equivalents totaled $2.039 billion in gross debt was $15.490 billion, and that resulted in net debt of $13.451 billion. Our net leverage ratio ended the quarter at 3.61x trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA. Second quarter cash flow from operations was $443 million and capital expenditure of $151 million, resulting in a free cash flow of $292 million. And you saw in the quarter that we repurchased $607 million of our shares, which brought our first half share repurchase activity to above $1 billion. This leaves us with approximately $2 billion of repurchase authorization remaining under our current program. Also in the quarter, we issued $2 billion of senior notes maturing in 2032. Now let's turn to the guidance. We're narrowing our guidance ranges for revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted diluted earnings per share as follows: we expect revenue to be between $16.100 billion and $16.300 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 4.5% to 5.8%. We're just over 5% at the midpoint. This guidance includes a year-over-year FX tailwind of approximately 100 basis points. We continue to assume about $100 million step down in COVID-related work and approximately 150 basis points of contribution from M&A activity for the full year. We expect adjusted EBITDA to be between $3.750 billion to $3.825 billion. We expect adjusted diluted EPS to be between $11.75 and $12.05, that's up 5.6% to 8.3% versus prior year, or about 7% at the midpoint. Okay. For the third quarter, we expect revenue to be between $4.025 billion and $4.100 billion. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be between $935 million to $955 million, and adjusted diluted EPS is expected to be between $2.92 and $3.02. Both this quarterly guidance and our full-year guidance assume that foreign currency rates as of yesterday, July 21, continue for the balance of the year. To summarize, in Q2, we delivered strong revenue and profit results towards or above the high end of our expectation. TAS business unit, in particular, reported revenue above target and R&DS despite the effect of continued uncertainty on the industry, the team here has responded well, improving win rates and expanding share, which together contributed to stronger bookings and a record backlog in the quarter. Forward-looking metrics for our R&DS offerings remain positive, including a significant uptick that we saw in RFP flow. We saw strong demand in the quarter for our senior notes issuance and finally, we ramped up our share repurchase activity in the quarter, which brought our first half repurchases to above $1 billion. And with that, let me hand it back to the operator, Tina, for Q&A.

Operator

Your first question comes from the line of Luke Sergott with Barclays.

Speaker 4

This is Sam on for Luke. Just first one on TAS, that's continued to kind of defy the overall environment. And that seems to be hitting R&DS a little bit, along with your peers on the clinical research side, being that at least a portion of it is short cycle. How does TAS continue to earn through this environment? Is the real-world evidence strength and other areas of strength within TAS offsetting any weakness in the other subsegments? And how does the current environment differ from a year or two ago where TAS was seeing headwinds and the R&DS side of the business was kind of humming along? So I think that's a diversification story is shining through here.

Ari Bousbib Chairman

Thank you for your question. You're inquiring about the overall environment and developments in each segment. In TAS, we achieved better-than-expected revenue growth this quarter, just below 9% and 7% at constant currency. We have been experiencing a strong recovery in TAS since the third quarter of last year, which is slightly better than anticipated. Our clients continue to launch new drugs despite short-term uncertainties in the environment; the approved molecules need to be launched eventually, and postponement is limited. We expected this momentum to occur, and clients are continuing their regular operations. They have established commercial plans that require our services. Following a slowdown when several initiatives were put on hold, TAS growth had slipped to low single digits by late 2023 and early 2024, resulting in extended decision timelines. However, those timelines have returned to normal—actually even better than before—so it’s business as usual now. Regarding segment performance, the real-world business saw the strongest growth at double-digit percentages, which constitutes about one-third of the TAS business. The other sectors, including data consulting and technology, experienced growth in the low to mid-single digits. The main driver of superior growth was the real-world business, while the rest remained stable to slightly up. We remain optimistic about leading indicators and sustained strength into 2025. Opportunities from this past quarter have increased significantly in both volume and dollar amounts. The win rate in TAS has improved a few points year-over-year, and we've noted a further reduction in average closure time—about 15% shorter than last year. We are confident in the business fundamentals and the ongoing recovery. Regarding R&DS, it has seen significant activity and intensified go-to-market efforts, allowing us to book $2.5 billion in the current quarter compared to $2.1 billion in the first quarter. We generated numerous opportunities, and the indicators for future demand, as mentioned earlier, are very robust. Thank you.

Operator

The next question is from the line of Shlomo Rosenbaum with Stifel.

Speaker 5

Ari, I want to focus a little bit more on the R&DS and what you're talking about. It sounds like from what you're saying is the environment did not really improve, but you're gaining more ground in that. And if you could double-click a little bit, is it really client confidence is really the same? Or is there anything that's improving? I'm just asking also because not just Medpace also reported with some better numbers. And usually, if you have a few competitors there that are moving in the same direction, it seems to indicate some kind of improvement because not everybody is always doing better at the same time; they have to be taking share from somebody. Maybe you could just double-click a little bit in terms of the change sequentially of what you saw on the ground?

Ari Bousbib Chairman

We haven't encountered this competitor in significant defenses, and our business dynamics differ as reflected in the numbers. Regarding R&D services, the environment is still uncertain due to administrative policies. However, unlike previous periods where clients hesitated, they are now progressing with their initiatives. If a client has a crucial Phase III program lasting four years, they need to enter the market quickly if they possess solid data and promising results. Delaying for another six months isn't feasible, so clients are beginning to move forward, suggesting a slight improvement in the environment with some positive indicators in demand metrics. However, the uncertainty surrounding administrative policies remains unchanged, and the timeframe for action is becoming tighter. As a result, clients are advancing to some extent, indicating an overall improving situation. Furthermore, we have actively engaged with the market more aggressively than usual through our "See More, Win More" initiative, responding to more requests for proposals, creating additional opportunities, and achieving a higher win rate. These factors have contributed to our unexpectedly strong results this quarter across all segments, with the EBP segment performing particularly well.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Elizabeth Anderson with Evercore ISI.

Speaker 6

I was wondering two things. One, if you could comment on sort of the cadence in the back half of the year. Obviously, you gave the revenue assumptions for the third quarter. Is there anything to think about in terms of timing aspects? I know you guys, I think, previously started talking about the restarting of a trial that had previously gotten delayed, just so we can think about the cadence of that into '26. And then secondly, anything to call out on the gross margin side? It looks like maybe it had some just mix impact from TAS, but just anything to think about there in terms of the cadence for the back half of the year?

Ari Bousbib Chairman

Yes, there is a degree of seasonality to our business that you may be aware of. The first quarter is usually the weakest, and much of our European business pauses from mid-July to mid-September. The fourth quarter is significantly stronger, a trend we observe in both R&DS and TAS. Regarding R&DS, the large delayed trial we mentioned is set to resume in the latter half of '25, and discussions with clients are currently ongoing as scheduled. This will contribute to a larger than usual increase in the fourth quarter this year. In terms of TAS, we had a tougher comparison in the second half compared to last year, as we achieved over 9% growth in the fourth quarter then. Thus, the challenge lies in making year-over-year comparisons for the latter part of this year. However, it’s still early, and we want to avoid making premature conclusions. Everything appears positive for now in both TAS and R&DS, and we expect a gradual improvement in growth rates, particularly in the fourth quarter, driven by the resumption of that large trial and generally stronger business activity than anticipated. You also inquired about gross margin.

Speaker 3

Yes. Look, you did see some compression in our gross margin in the quarter, and about 1/3 of that is due to the FX tailwind. As you know, FX tends to move our revenue line without moving our EBITDA line very much. About 2/3 of it was due to product mix. We had the higher revenue growth in real-world and TAS, which tends to be a lower margin portion of that business. And R&DS, we had increased pass-through revenues and also an increased proportion of FSP revenues. So those were the drivers of what you saw. Now of course, on the SG&A side, we had strong cost control and offset quite a bit of that gross margin compression.

Ari Bousbib Chairman

Basically, the short answer is the pressure on gross margin is mix-driven for 2/3 and FX-driven for 1/3. Of course, below the line, we offset by our strong cost reductions; we offset about 1/3 of that margin compression.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Michael Cherny with Leerink Partners.

Speaker 7

This is Dan Clark on for Mike. Just had a question: as you've been getting involved in more opportunities, one, are you seeing more CROs on average in an RFP? And are there any changes in pricing worth calling out?

Ari Bousbib Chairman

Yes. When you say more CROs, you mean more people invited to the party? Yes. Well, I mean, look, again, it depends on the clients and the segments. With respect to the large segments, over the course of last year, virtually every large pharma company essentially reinvited the top 5 or 6 CROs, that is the 3 longest ones and the 3 smaller ones, and rebid their preferred partnerships. We were very happy that we won and expanded all of those relationships further. I would say the 3 largest ones essentially are the main providers, and the smaller ones are invited essentially to keep pricing in line from the point of view of the large pharma customers. And with respect to the other segments, it's relationships, it's go-to-market. Generally, in the EBP segment, you may have 2 or 3 bids, and we don't see much difference versus what was the case before. Now some of the competitors are forcing a little bit of price reductions. I would say that our strategy to See More and Win More means that we are at the table every time. Whereas in the past, a competitor may have reduced pricing and we might have walked away because we would not have wanted to align at that price level, now we will not walk away. We will grab business. We will always prefer to have an additional point of top-line growth, and then we'll work later on our costs and margins and accept some short to medium-term margin pressure in order to ensure that we continue to build our backlog. So yes, your question about pricing: is there pricing pressure? Yes, for all the reasons I mentioned. Plus the market environment continues to be tighter; therefore, you have more people at the table for a relatively smaller pie, and that inevitably leads to pricing pressures. But in that environment, we are the largest player. We are the global scaled player, and we intend to win.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jeff Garro with Stephens Incorporated.

Speaker 7

I was hoping we could dig in a little further on AI. Just any updates you have on development progress of additional AI solutions and expanding use cases? And I know it's early, but curious what you're seeing in terms of demand from customers. And then lastly, any further comments about how you guys are using AI internally to drive efficiencies in the business?

Ari Bousbib Chairman

Well, yes, look, AI, especially agentification of our process is extremely important. We keep hiring resources, building up teams, and scaling up our efforts. We are progressing as planned to deploy highly specialized industry-focused AI agents, both on the clinical side and on the commercial side. So far, we've developed over 20 agents into production that cover 3 use cases in each of commercial, real-world, and R&DS. We are seeing positive results and experiencing significant client interest, some of which are already being used. For example, we have one multi-agentic system for literature review with expanded capacity that has expanded capacity to review by 10x. Another agent allows us to reduce delivery time by 2/3 from 12 weeks to 4 weeks with significant cost reduction in our patient journeys for our clients. We are currently developing over 50 agents to be deployed in the third quarter for production covering 15 use cases. What this means is there is an enormous amount of interest from clients; obviously, every large organization wants to be on this AI train. Initially, especially large pharma wants to develop their own solutions. Over time, it's becoming apparent that speed here is extremely important because it all depends on your ability to train your AI models. We've got the goods, so to speak. We've got the materials, the data, the expertise which is why we are collaborating with NVIDIA on training in these AI agents and trying to move as fast as we can. It's hard to see the impact in the short term, but it will make a difference in terms of our ability to execute a much larger backlog faster on the R&DS and our ability to execute commercial strategies for our clients on the commercial side a lot faster; real-world studies a lot faster. So speed and efficiency over the long term, obviously, we expect internally that those efficiencies will enable us to resume margin expansion and continue to mitigate those pricing pressures we are seeing in the short term.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Michael Ryskin with BofA.

Speaker 8

Great. Ari, I want to come back to the win rates you called out in EBP, touched on it a couple of times. Just wondering if you could expand on sort of what steps you've taken internally with the organization to achieve those higher win rates and whether you think that's sustainable going forward? Is that sort of a sustainable change? Or is that something more effective of the dynamic in the near-term market environment?

Ari Bousbib Chairman

Well, look, the success in the marketplace is a function of generating as many opportunities as possible but we have the opportunity to bid. And as I said, that's part of the first part of our strategy, which is See More. We're much more aggressive in going to market, responding to RFPs, generating the RFPs. The RFP flow grew low teens year-over-year and high single digits sequentially. And again, the growth was across all customer segments. I might say EBP was up very, very strong. The year-over-year growth was in low teens. Large pharma was low to mid-single digits, and EBP was much higher than that. It's great to generate the flow; then you have to win. Our directive is to win more and to win as much as we can. Now back to an earlier question that sometimes requires us to align to a lower price than we would have been willing to tolerate in the past. We've sort of adjusted and fine-tuned that strategy and now are actually winning a lot more than we were before. Now you are asking, is this sustainable? The answer is, I don't see why not. The flow of opportunity is there. If we look at the qualified pipeline, which is an earlier indicator versus RFP flow, the qualified pipeline is up year-over-year and sequentially high single digits, again, EBP is there in the double-digit growth year-over-year. We see that the demand we are able to participate in is increasing. Our win rate depends on our strategy and our capabilities. We believe strongly that we are uniquely positioned, and we will continue to push through it. The win rate is up significantly.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Dan Leonard with UBS.

Speaker 9

I was hoping to talk a bit more about the margin. The 2/3 of gross margin compression you attributed to mix, how do we think about that going forward, especially in the context of that flat to 30 basis point margin expansion framework that you've previously discussed?

Ari Bousbib Chairman

This is the mix is what it is. Real-world is growing faster, and that's lower margins. We have more FSP to execute in the short term, and that's also lower margins on the R&DS side. I think in the short term, I would say that is going to continue. By short-term, I mean in the next couple of quarters. Having said that, I might mention that this pendulum moves towards FSP. I've said this before, and I will repeat it. I do not believe it is permanent. In fact, and this fluctuates, by the way, but in fact, in this quarter, the proportion of net bookings that FSP is in the very low single digits, and I mean very, very low. Everything else was full service. So I think overall, we saw FSP as a proportion of backlog pick up 1 or 2 points from historic 14%, 15% to 16%, 17%. But we see it coming down back to the same level. So I think R&DS, in the short term, some mix, unfavorable mix, but I think after that, we should be back to a more favorable mix.

Speaker 3

But all that's reflected for the next couple of quarters in the guidance. And you just also have to remember about the FX dynamic; we have that tailwind and that's compressing margins as well.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jailendra Singh with Truist Securities.

Speaker 10

So I want to go back to TAS business. Thanks for the color by business lines. I actually want to double-click on business and consulting piece. It seems trends there still remain below historical trends. What are your expectations there in terms of business returning to high single, double-digit growth? What are some of the key leading indicators you're watching for that business to start bouncing back?

Ari Bousbib Chairman

Yes. Look, the pipeline is there. We track pipeline versus prior years and pipeline coverage. I think we are confident that certainly in the future, we'll return indeed to high single digits as it was in the past. The mix of projects is different. We spoke about AI before, and that's part of the equation as well. So as we are transitioning the different offerings, we think that's part of that transition. We expect that to happen just basically based on our pipeline reviews.

Operator

Our next question comes from the line of Ann Hynes with Mizuho.

Speaker 11

You referenced some of your clients have some short-term uncertainty. What do you think they need the most clarity on to accelerate projects? Is it pricing? Is it clarity on maybe tariffs? And I know it's early for 2026, but when I look at consensus estimates for R&DS, revenue is up 4%. Do you think the current bookings environment supports that type of growth? Or do we need an acceleration to support that?

Speaker 3

Ann, you saw the next 12 months revenue in backlog that we reported out of R&DS. So you can now that doesn't cover you all the way to 2026, but those numbers give you some indication there. And our pipeline and RFP flow has been strong. So we're not going to be giving 2026 guidance at this point, but you can kind of piece it together from all of that.

Ari Bousbib Chairman

Yes. You had a question about clients' concerns and the policies. Well, yes, I mean it's all of the above. It's the changes in the agencies and policies, FDA, and so on. This seems to be stabilizing, and we feel good about that. For the pricing, we're just waiting. There have been discussions and thoughts. But let me just say, I don't want to comment more, but I would just say it's extremely complicated. And then tariffs, you saw a lot of non-U.S. large pharma company announced massive investments, and I think this will help.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Jack Meehan, Nephron Research.

Speaker 12

I was wondering if you could just share latest thoughts on what you're seeing related to cancellation trends. Have you seen that continue to moderate at all? And just thoughts on kind of a path to normalization there.

Ari Bousbib Chairman

Yes. I mean, look, we mentioned in the first quarter that cancellations were in the normal historical range. I'd say the second quarter same trend, overall first half, really nothing unusual, no mega cancellations, and the average basically is the same as it was historically before we had the disruptions that we had last year.

Operator

Your next question comes from the line of Max Smock with William Blair.

Speaker 13

It's Christine Rains on for Max Smock. So hoping you can give some quantification about the delays you are seeing on new clinical projects. I know that you gave the 10% figure last quarter. So curious if delays for new programs got better or worse in the second quarter?

Ari Bousbib Chairman

You're talking about which delays?

Speaker 3

Yes. We're talking about RFP to decision-making timeline?

Speaker 13

Yes, correct.

Ari Bousbib Chairman

Yes, the environment remains quite similar regarding client decision-making uncertainty. In many instances, we are moving forward with launches because clients are eager to proceed. Some decisions that were previously delayed have been initiated. However, when analyzing the overall decision timelines, they are still more extended than usual. Our improved performance in bookings, sales, and opportunities is only partially due to a slight enhancement in the environment. For example, EBP funding hasn't shown significant change since the beginning of the year; it has been quite stable. We've adopted a more proactive approach and have achieved considerable success in the marketplace, evidenced by our win rates compared to the past. While we've been effective in generating and winning opportunities, I wouldn't conclude that the market has suddenly returned to normal.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. Mr. Joseph, I turn the call back over to you.

Kerri Joseph Head of Investor Relations

Thanks, operator. Thank you, everyone, for taking the time to join us today, and we look forward to speaking to you again on our third quarter 2025 earnings call. The team will be available for the rest of the day to take any follow-up questions you might have. Have a good day.

Operator

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.