DGX vs. LH, NTRA, EXAS, BMRN, TEVA, BGNE, AVTR, VTRS, NBIX, and COO
Should you be buying Quest Diagnostics stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Quest Diagnostics include Laboratory Co. of America (LH), Natera (NTRA), Exact Sciences (EXAS), BioMarin Pharmaceutical (BMRN), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (TEVA), BeiGene (BGNE), Avantor (AVTR), Viatris (VTRS), Neurocrine Biosciences (NBIX), and Cooper Companies (COO). These companies are all part of the "medical" sector.
Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) and Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, risk, profitability, institutional ownership, media sentiment, valuation, community ranking, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Quest Diagnostics has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Laboratory Co. of America. Quest Diagnostics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Laboratory Co. of America, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
In the previous week, Laboratory Co. of America had 5 more articles in the media than Quest Diagnostics. MarketBeat recorded 28 mentions for Laboratory Co. of America and 23 mentions for Quest Diagnostics. Quest Diagnostics' average media sentiment score of 0.34 beat Laboratory Co. of America's score of 0.18 indicating that Quest Diagnostics is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Quest Diagnostics pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Laboratory Co. of America pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Quest Diagnostics pays out 38.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Laboratory Co. of America pays out 57.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Quest Diagnostics is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Quest Diagnostics has a net margin of 9.11% compared to Laboratory Co. of America's net margin of 3.52%. Quest Diagnostics' return on equity of 15.52% beat Laboratory Co. of America's return on equity.
Quest Diagnostics currently has a consensus price target of $146.17, indicating a potential upside of 6.40%. Laboratory Co. of America has a consensus price target of $243.14, indicating a potential upside of 20.77%. Given Laboratory Co. of America's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Laboratory Co. of America is more favorable than Quest Diagnostics.
Laboratory Co. of America received 79 more outperform votes than Quest Diagnostics when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.10% of users gave Laboratory Co. of America an outperform vote while only 49.48% of users gave Quest Diagnostics an outperform vote.
88.1% of Quest Diagnostics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.8% of Quest Diagnostics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Quest Diagnostics has a beta of 0.88, indicating that its stock price is 12% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Laboratory Co. of America has a beta of 1.02, indicating that its stock price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Laboratory Co. of America beats Quest Diagnostics on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.
Get Quest Diagnostics News Delivered to You Automatically
Sign up to receive the latest news and ratings for DGX and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding DGX and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Quest Diagnostics Competitors List
Related Companies and Tools
