Carl Zeiss Meditec leads structurally, with growth as the clearest single gap between the two profiles. Charles River Laboratories International still has the edge on valuation, which keeps the comparison from looking entirely one-sided. In the market, Charles River Laboratories International carries the stronger setup — intact trend against Carl Zeiss Meditec's broken trend. That leaves a split case: the structural lead stays with Carl Zeiss Meditec, but the market is not currently confirming it.
The comparison is based on similar long-term financial trajectories, not sector labels. Peer scores are normalised within each company's primary universe (AFX.DE: HDAX, CRL: Russell 1000).
Growth still does most of the heavy lifting in this comparison.
This comparison is anchored in long-term financial trajectory similarity within the selected peer universe.
This level of similarity points to a meaningful structural match, though not a tight one.
The strongest overlap appears in operating margin level and capital structure.
Scores reflect position relative to comparable companies with similar long-term financial trajectories.
The clearest separation appears in growth.
Left means cheaper relative valuation. Higher means stronger structure.
Carl Zeiss Meditec AG still looks stronger, and the price setup does not materially undermine that lead.
Valuation position uses peer-relative PE percentile (idx_pct_pe) and Forward P/E where available.
Where AFX.DE and CRL each sit in their own 5-year price and valuation history.
Describes historical entry positioning only. Descriptive — not investment advice.
One company is still expanding while the other is contracting, which creates a very wide growth split.
On the market side, Charles River Laboratories International carries the stronger trend while Carl Zeiss Meditec's trend has broken — the market setup does not confirm the structural advantage.
The page question resolves through growth, but valuation still keeps the overall picture from reading as one-sided.
Break down the AFX.DE vs CRL comparison across all dimensions with the full interactive tool.
Explore how AFX.DE and CRL each compare against other companies in their peer groups.
Rule-based, descriptive analysis only. Derived from peer percentile dimensions. Not investment advice. Peer groups are determined algorithmically based on structural similarity — not by sector classification alone.
AssetNext scores reflect each company's structural position within its functional peer group — not a ranking against all stocks simultaneously. Peers are identified by similarity across eight financial dimensions, including revenue growth trajectory, margin structure, capital intensity, and earnings stability. A score of 75 means the company ranks in the top quartile within its own peer group, not the entire market.
Four dimension scores drive the overall peer score: Growth (revenue trajectory and expansion dynamics), Quality (margin structure and capital efficiency), Valuation (peer-relative pricing on standard multiples), and Stability (earnings consistency and financial predictability). Each dimension is scored 0–100 relative to the peer group, then combined into an overall peer score using equal weighting.
Because scores are peer-relative, the same company can have slightly different scores in different index universes. On comparison pages, both companies are shown within their shared peer universe wherever possible — so the scores are directly comparable. The peer basis is stated on each score card.
Scores are recalculated periodically as underlying financial data is updated. All analysis is descriptive and rule-based — AssetNext describes structural realities and never issues buy, sell or hold recommendations.