Stock Performance Graph This performance graph shall not be deemed “filed” for purposes of Section 18 of the Exchange Act, or incorporated by reference into any filing of Quintiles IMS Holdings, Inc.  under the Exchange Act or under the Securities Act, except as shall be expressly set forth by specific reference in such filing.
The following graph shows a comparison from May 9, 2013 (the date our common stock commenced trading on the NYSE) through December 31, 2016 of the cumulative total return for our common stock, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Stock Index (“S&P 500”) and a select peer group.
The peer group consists of Cerner Corporation, Charles River Laboratories, Inc. , Dun & Bradstreet Corporation, Equifax Inc. , ICON plc, IHS Markit Ltd. , INC Research Holdings, Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, Nielsen N. V. , Parexel International Corporation, Inc. , PRA Health Sciences, Inc. , Thomson Reuters Corporation and Verisk Analytics, Inc.
The companies in our peer group are publicly traded information services, information technology or contract research companies, and thus share similar business model characteristics to QuintilesIMS, or provide services to similar customers as QuintilesIMS.
Many of these companies are also used by our compensation committee for purposes of compensation benchmarking.
The graph assumes that $100 was invested in QuintilesIMS, the S&P 500 and the peer group as of the close of market on May 9, 2013, assumes the reinvestments of dividends, if any.
The S&P 500 and our peer group are included for comparative purposes only.
They do not necessarily reflect management’s opinion that the S&P 500 and our peer group are an appropriate measure of the relative performance of the stock involved, and they are not intended to forecast or be indicative of possible future performance of our common stock.
## Table 0 ##
Item 6.
Selected Financial Data We have derived the following consolidated statements of income data for 2016, 2015 and 2014 and consolidated balance sheet data as of December 31, 2016 and 2015 from our audited consolidated financial
Selling, General and Administrative Expenses, exclusive of Depreciation and Amortization 2016 compared to 2015 Commercial Solutions’ selling, general and administrative expenses increased approximately $151 million in 2016 as compared to 2015.
This increase was primarily due to $158 million from the Merger, an increase in bad debt expense and cost reductions in various other areas.2015 compared to 2014 Commercial Solutions’ selling, general and administrative expenses increased approximately $13 million, or 25.0%, in 2015 as compared to 2014.
This increase was comprised of a $14 million constant currency increase, or 26.9%, partially offset by a reduction of $1 million from the positive effects of foreign currency fluctuations.
The constant currency increase was primarily due to the impact from the Encore acquisition which closed in July 2014.
Research & Development Solution
## Table 1 ##
Backlog and Net New Business Beginning with the third quarter of 2016, we began reporting net new business and backlog on an as- contracted basis (signed binding commitments and signed contracts during the period).
We only report backlog and net new business for the Research & Development Solutions segment on a rolling basis for the last twelve months.
Previously, net new business included non-binding written awards, which was consistent with industry practice.
We believe the as-contracted method is a more precise approach as it requires a higher threshold and less judgment for backlog inclusion.
Net new business totaled $4.3 billion for both the 12 months ended December 31, 2016 and 2015.
Ending backlog was $9.5 billion at December 31, 2016, and we expect $2.9 billion of this backlog to convert to revenue in the next 12 months.
Net new business under sole provider arrangements is recorded over the life of the arrangement as projects are awarded.
Consistent with our methodology for calculating net new business during a particular period, backlog represents, at a particular point in time, future service revenues from work not yet completed or performed under signed contracts.
Once work begins on a project, service revenues are recognized over the duration of the project.
Net new business and backlog denominated in foreign currencies are valued each month using the actual average foreign exchange rates in effect during the month
special purpose entity (“SPE”).
The SPE obtained a term loan and revolving loan commitment from a third party lender, secured by liens on the assets of the SPE, to finance the purchase of the accounts receivable, which included a $275 million term loan and a $25 million revolving loan commitment.
The revolving loan commitment may be increased by an additional $35 million as amounts are repaid under the term loan.
QuintilesIMS has guaranteed the performance of the obligations of existing and future subsidiaries that sell and service the accounts receivable under the receivables financing facility.
The assets of the SPE are not available to satisfy any of our obligations or any obligations of our subsidiaries.
As of December 31, 2016, the full $25 million of revolving loan commitment was available under the receivables financing facility.
We used the proceeds from the term loan under the receivables financing facility to repay in full the amount outstanding on the then outstanding revolving credit facility under its then outstanding senior secured credit agreement ($150 million), to repay $25 million of the then outstanding Term Loan B-3, to pay related fees and expenses and the remainder was used for general working capital purposes.
Restrictive Covenants Our debt agreements provide for certain covenants and events of default customary for similar instruments, including a covenant not to exceed a specified ratio of consolidated senior secured net indebtedness to Consolidated EBITDA, as defined in the senior secured credit facility and a covenant to maintain a specified minimum interest coverage ratio.
If an event of default occurs under any of the Company’s or the Company’s subsidiaries’ financing arrangements, the creditors under such financing arrangements will be entitled to take various actions, including the acceleration of amounts due under such arrangements, and in the case of the lenders under the revolving credit facility and New Term Loans, other actions permitted to be taken by a secured creditor.
Our long-term debt arrangements contain usual and customary restrictive covenants that, among other things, place limitations on our ability to declare dividends.
For additional information regarding these restrictive covenants, see Part II, Item 5 “Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities—Dividend Policy” and Note 11 to our audited consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.  At December 31, 2016, the Company was in compliance with the financial covenants under the Company’s financing arrangements.
Years ended December 31, 2016, 2015 and 2014 Cash Flow from Operating Activities
## Table 2 ##
2016 compared to 2015 Cash provided by operating activities increased $384 million in 2016 as compared to 2015.
The increase in cash provided by operating activities reflects the increase in net income as adjusted for non-cash items necessary to reconcile net income to cash provided by operating activities.
Also contributing to the increase were lower payments for income taxes ($15 million), and lower cash used in days sales outstanding (“DSO”) and accounts payable and accrued expenses.
The lower cash used in DSO reflects a two-day increase in DSO in 2016 compared to a seven-day increase in DSO in 2015.
DSO can shift significantly at each reporting period depending on the timing of cash receipts under contractual payment terms relative to the recognition of revenue over a project lifecycle.
IQVIA HOLDINGS INC.  AND SUBSIDIARIES Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - Continued Stock Incentive Plans Stock incentive plans provide incentives to eligible employees, officers and directors in the form of non-qualified stock options, incentive stock options, stock appreciation rights (“SARs”), restricted stock awards (“RSAs”), restricted stock units (“RSUs”), performance awards, covered annual incentive awards, cash-based awards and other stock-based awards, in each case subject to the terms of the stock incentive plans.
In April 2017, the Company’s 2017 Incentive and Stock Award Plan (the “2017 Plan”) was approved by the Company’s stockholders.
The 2017 Plan consolidates the unused share pools under the Company’s 2014 Incentive and Stock Award Plan (the “2014 Plan”), the Company’s 2013 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2013 Plan”), the Company’s 2010 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2010 Plan”) and the Company’s 2008 Stock Incentive Plan (the “2008 Plan”), and together with the 2010 Plan, the 2013 Plan and the 2014 Plan, the “Prior Plans,” and makes shares underlying outstanding awards granted under (but not ultimately delivered) the Prior Plans eligible for use in connection with new awards under the 2017 Plan.
The 2017 Plan provides for the grant of stock options, SARs, restricted and deferred stock (including RSUs), performance awards, dividend equivalents, other stock-based awards and cash-based awards.
The fair value of stock options and SARs is estimated using the Black-Scholes-Merton option-pricing model.
The fair value of restricted stock and RSUs is based on the closing market price of the Company’s common stock on the date of grant.
The fair value of the performance shares is determined separately for the portion of the award based on compound annual earnings per share (“EPS”) growth and the portion of the award based on relative total shareholder return (“TSR”).
The fair value of the compound annual EPS growth portion of the award is equal to the closing market price of the Company’s common stock on the date of grant.
The fair value of the TSR portion of the award is determined based on a Monte Carlo simulation model.
The Company recognized stock-based compensation expense of $106 million, $80 million and $38 million in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.
Stock-based compensation expense is included in selling, general and administrative expenses on the accompanying consolidated statements of income.
The associated future income tax benefit recognized was $21 million, $24 million and $9 million in 2017, 2016 and 2015, respectively.
As of December 31, 2017, there was approximately $103 million of total unrecognized stock-based compensation expense related to outstanding non-vested stock-based compensation arrangements, which the Company expects to recognize over a weighted average period of 1.16 years.
As of December 31, 2017, there were 13.4 million shares available for future grants under all of the Company’s stock incentive plans.
The Company used the following assumptions when estimating the value of the stock-based compensation for stock options and SARs issued as follows:

<table><tr><td></td><td>5/9/2013</td><td>12/31/2013</td><td>12/31/2014</td><td>12/31/2015</td><td>12/31/2016</td></tr><tr><td>Q</td><td>$100</td><td>$110</td><td>$140</td><td>$163</td><td>$181</td></tr><tr><td>Peer Group</td><td>$100</td><td>$116</td><td>$143</td><td>$151</td><td>$143</td></tr><tr><td>S&P 500</td><td>$100</td><td>$114</td><td>$127</td><td>$126</td><td>$138</td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td colspan="4"> Change</td></tr><tr><td> (dollars in millions)</td><td> 2016</td><td> 2015</td><td> 2014</td><td colspan="2"> 2016 vs. 2015</td><td colspan="2"> 2015 vs. 2014</td></tr><tr><td>Revenues</td><td>$3,472</td><td>$3,159</td><td>$3,050</td><td>$313</td><td>9.9%</td><td>$109</td><td>3.6%</td></tr><tr><td>Costs of revenue</td><td>1,953</td><td>1,779</td><td>1,764</td><td>174</td><td>9.8</td><td>15</td><td>0.9</td></tr><tr><td><i>as a percentage of revenues</i></td><td>56.3%</td><td>56.3%</td><td>57.8%</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Selling, general and administrative expenses</td><td>577</td><td>556</td><td>542</td><td>21</td><td>3.8</td><td>14</td><td>2.6</td></tr><tr><td><i>as a percentage of revenues</i></td><td>16.6%</td><td>17.6%</td><td>17.8%</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Segment profit</td><td>$942</td><td>$824</td><td>$744</td><td>$118</td><td>14.3%</td><td>$80</td><td>10.8%</td></tr><tr><td><i>as a percentage of revenues</i></td><td>27.1%</td><td>26.1%</td><td>24.4%</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr></table>
<table><tr><td></td><td>Year Ended December 31,</td></tr><tr><td>(in millions)</td><td>2016</td><td>2015</td><td>2014</td></tr><tr><td>Net cash provided by operating activities</td><td>$860</td><td>$476</td><td>$433</td></tr></table>

Question: Does the value of Revenues in 2015 greater than that in 2016?
Answer: no