Quest Diagnostics (DGX) Competitors

Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) and Henry Schein (NASDAQ:HSIC) are both medical companies, but which is the superior investment? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, dividends, profitability, valuation and earnings.

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of DGX or HSIC?

88.1% of Quest Diagnostics shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 96.6% of Henry Schein shares are owned by institutional investors. 8.2% of Quest Diagnostics shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 1.1% of Henry Schein 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.

Do analysts rate DGX or HSIC?

Quest Diagnostics presently has a consensus target price of $186.00, suggesting a potential upside of 3.28%. Henry Schein has a consensus target price of $75.58, suggesting a potential upside of 8.60%. Given Henry Schein's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Henry Schein is more favorable than Quest Diagnostics.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Quest Diagnostics	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	8 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.67
Henry Schein	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.33

Which has more risk & volatility, DGX or HSIC?

Quest Diagnostics has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Henry Schein has a beta of 0.81, indicating that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media favor DGX or HSIC?

In the previous week, Quest Diagnostics had 6 more articles in the media than Henry Schein. MarketBeat recorded 31 mentions for Quest Diagnostics and 25 mentions for Henry Schein. Henry Schein's average media sentiment score of 1.42 beat Quest Diagnostics' score of 1.27 indicating that Henry Schein is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Quest Diagnostics	25 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Henry Schein	18 Very Positive mention(s)	4 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has higher earnings & valuation, DGX or HSIC?

Quest Diagnostics has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Henry Schein. Quest Diagnostics is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Henry Schein, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Quest Diagnostics	$9.87B	2.04	$871M	$8.35	21.57
Henry Schein	$12.67B	0.67	$390M	$3.10	22.45

Is DGX or HSIC more profitable?

Quest Diagnostics has a net margin of 9.01% compared to Henry Schein's net margin of 3.05%. Quest Diagnostics' return on equity of 15.24% beat Henry Schein's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Quest Diagnostics	9.01%	15.24%	6.64%
Henry Schein	3.05%	14.36%	5.52%

Summary

Quest Diagnostics beats Henry Schein on 11 of the 17 factors compared between the two stocks.