Quest Diagnostics vs Labcorp
DGX and LH side by side, both in health services. Figures are trailing twelve months unless noted, from SEC filings and end-of-day prices.
How DGX and LH compare
Quest Diagnostics and Labcorp are about the same size, with market caps of $27.8B and $29.9B.
On earnings, Quest Diagnostics is cheaper: it trades at 26.8× trailing earnings, against 30.2× for Labcorp.
Quest Diagnostics grew revenue faster over the last twelve months (9.9% versus 6.0% for Labcorp).
Quest Diagnostics keeps more of each dollar of sales as profit, with a net margin of 9.2% compared with 6.9% at Labcorp.
Both pay dividends: Quest Diagnostics yields 1.3% and Labcorp 0.78%.
Quest Diagnostics scores higher on the StockData Score (12 against 11 for Labcorp), which adds up 30 checks on valuation, growth, past performance, financial health and dividends.
Key numbers
A dot marks the better figure where higher or lower is clearly better.
| Metric | DGX | LH |
|---|---|---|
| Size and price | ||
| Market cap | $27.8B | $29.9B |
| Share price | $251.82 | $368.16 |
| Change, 1 year | 44.1% | 41.8% |
| Change, 5 years | 79.2% | 34.0% |
| Beta (5Y) | 0.33 | 0.61 |
| Employees | 57K | 71K |
| StockData Score | ||
| Total score | 12 (better) | 11 |
| Valuation score | 0 | 0 |
| Growth score | 3 (better) | 2 |
| Performance score | 3 (better) | 2 |
| Health score | 3 | 4 (better) |
| Dividend score | 3 | 3 |
| Valuation | ||
| P/E | 26.8× (better) | 30.2× |
| P/S | 2.4× | 2.0× (better) |
| P/B | 3.7× | 3.4× (better) |
| EV/EBITDA | 15.0× (better) | 16.0× |
| P/FCF | 20.6× (better) | 23.2× |
| PEG | 8.47 | – |
| FCF yield | 4.9% (better) | 4.3% |
| Fair value | $251.80 | $356.26 |
| Margin of safety | −0.01% (better) | −3.3% |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth (TTM) | 9.9% (better) | 6.0% |
| Revenue growth, 5Y average | 3.2% (better) | −0.04% |
| Net income growth (TTM) | 11.8% | 17.4% (better) |
| EPS growth (TTM) | 13.2% | 19.6% (better) |
| EPS growth, 5Y average | −3.5% (better) | −8.0% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | 33.1% (better) | 29.0% |
| Operating margin | 14.1% (better) | 10.3% |
| Net margin | 9.2% (better) | 6.9% |
| FCF margin | 11.7% (better) | 8.8% |
| Return on equity | 14.4% (better) | 11.4% |
| Return on invested capital | 10.0% (better) | 8.6% |
| Financial health | ||
| Debt / equity | 0.75 | 0.66 (better) |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.27 (better) | 2.53 |
| Interest coverage | – | 6.5× |
| Current ratio | 1.59 (better) | 1.41 |
| Altman Z-score | 3.76 (better) | 3.55 |
| Piotroski F-score | 7 | 7 |
| Dividends and buybacks | ||
| Dividend yield | 1.3% (better) | 0.78% |
| Payout ratio | 34.2% | 23.6% |
| Years of dividend growth | – | 0 |
| Buyback yield | – | 2.3% |
| Shareholder yield | 1.3% | 3.0% (better) |
| Ownership | ||
| Held by institutions | 95.1% | 98.0% |
| Held by insiders | 0.47% | 0.40% |
| Insider net buying, 12 months | −$37.0M | −$11.9M (better) |
| Superinvestors holding | 1 | 1 |
| Short interest, % of float | 3.1% | 3.3% |
Go deeper
- DGX stock overview
- DGX income statement
- DGX valuation and score
- LH stock overview
- LH income statement
- LH valuation and score
Other comparisons
For information only, not investment advice. Check the source filings before relying on any figure.