Medpace: 3 Key Takeaways for Long-Term Investors
Key Points
Net new business awards reached $873 million in the third quarter.
Ending backlog reached $3.2 billion, up 5.6% year over year.
Management approved a new $1 billion share repurchase authorization.
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On its third-quarter 2026 earnings call, held on Oct. 22, 2026, Medpace (NASDAQ:MEDP) reported a record number of net new business awards for the period. For long-term investors, contract win rates and cancellation patterns offer crucial signals about core demand in clinical trial management. Three things management said stand out.
1. Net New Business Awards Reached an All-Time High
Client demand remained high, driving quarterly contract awards entering backlog, or contracted work not yet performed, to unprecedented levels.
Net new business awards reached an all time high in the quarter and our last 12-month closing awards was 23.9%.
-- August James Troendle, Chief Executive Officer
2. Clinical Failures Replaced Funding Shortages as Main Cancellation Driver
Project cancellations now stem primarily from clinical trial safety signals and efficacy results rather than client capital constraints.
Our cancellations now are primarily those of product failure.
-- August James Troendle, Chief Executive Officer
3. Formal 2027 Annual Guidance Delays Until February
Management deferred full-year financial targets to assess fourth-quarter bookings, while noting alignment with current market expectations.
We will provide guidance for 2027 at the end of our Q4 reporting. At the time of our Q4 reporting in February, however, we see no large disconnect between analyst consensus estimates and our current modeling of 2027.
-- August James Troendle, Chief Executive Officer
Looking Ahead
Contract demand is building in core oncology research, and management isn't hiding its satisfaction about booking momentum. The company maintains operational discipline while expanding capacity in Cincinnati. Management is watching cancellation patterns and upcoming award conversions.
I think that Q4, if things go right, it is going to be another record awards.
-- August James Troendle, Chief Executive Officer
Prioritizing execution quality protects long-term project margins as competitive pricing normalizes.
We focus on quality of our deliverables. And I do think that some of the crazy approaches taken by some in the past few years have died out. I think we are kind of back to a normalized environment.
-- August James Troendle, Chief Executive Officer
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The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Medpace. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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