DGX vs. LH, DVA, CHE, CRVL, AMED, MD, AMN, CCRN, NTRA, and EXAS
Should you be buying Quest Diagnostics stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Quest Diagnostics include Laboratory Co. of America (LH), DaVita (DVA), Chemed (CHE), CorVel (CRVL), Amedisys (AMED), Pediatrix Medical Group (MD), AMN Healthcare Services (AMN), Cross Country Healthcare (CCRN), Natera (NTRA), and Exact Sciences (EXAS).
Quest Diagnostics vs. Its Competitors
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 companies based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, earnings, institutional ownership, valuation, community ranking, dividends, profitability and media sentiment.
Quest Diagnostics pays an annual dividend of $3.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Laboratory Co. of America pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Quest Diagnostics pays out 40.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Laboratory Co. of America pays out 33.3% 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 has increased its dividend for 14 consecutive years. Quest Diagnostics is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
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.
Laboratory Co. of America received 84 more outperform votes than Quest Diagnostics when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.92% of users gave Laboratory Co. of America an outperform vote while only 49.10% 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. 8.2% of Quest Diagnostics shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are owned by company 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 0.49, meaning that its stock price is 51% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Laboratory Co. of America has a beta of 0.81, meaning that its stock price is 19% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Quest Diagnostics has a net margin of 8.80% compared to Laboratory Co. of America's net margin of 5.73%. Laboratory Co. of America's return on equity of 15.29% beat Quest Diagnostics' return on equity.
Quest Diagnostics presently has a consensus target price of $185.73, suggesting a potential upside of 5.04%. Laboratory Co. of America has a consensus target price of $274.00, suggesting a potential upside of 5.40%. Given Laboratory Co. of America's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Laboratory Co. of America is more favorable than Quest Diagnostics.
In the previous week, Laboratory Co. of America had 3 more articles in the media than Quest Diagnostics. MarketBeat recorded 11 mentions for Laboratory Co. of America and 8 mentions for Quest Diagnostics. Quest Diagnostics' average media sentiment score of 1.26 beat Laboratory Co. of America's score of 1.10 indicating that Quest Diagnostics is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Summary
Laboratory Co. of America beats Quest Diagnostics on 14 of the 22 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.
New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
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.
Media Sentiment Over Time
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
This page (NYSE:DGX) was last updated on 6/12/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
