Laboratory Co. of America (LH) Competitors

Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) and Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, profitability, risk, dividends, earnings, media sentiment, valuation and community ranking.

Do analysts recommend LH or DGX?

Laboratory Co. of America presently has a consensus target price of $258.62, suggesting a potential upside of 11.98%. Quest Diagnostics has a consensus target price of $169.15, suggesting a potential upside of 8.78%. 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.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Laboratory Co. of America	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.81
Quest Diagnostics	0 Sell rating(s)	8 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.53

Is LH or DGX a better dividend stock?

Laboratory Co. of America pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Quest Diagnostics pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Laboratory Co. of America pays out 55.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Quest Diagnostics pays out 40.3% 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 is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor LH or DGX?

Laboratory Co. of America received 83 more outperform votes than Quest Diagnostics when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.04% of users gave Laboratory Co. of America an outperform vote while only 49.35% of users gave Quest Diagnostics an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Laboratory Co. of America	Outperform Votes 618 64.04%	Underperform Votes 347 35.96%
Quest Diagnostics	Outperform Votes 535 49.35%	Underperform Votes 549 50.65%

Do insiders and institutionals believe in LH or DGX?

95.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 88.1% of Quest Diagnostics shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.8% of Quest Diagnostics shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media refer more to LH or DGX?

In the previous week, Laboratory Co. of America had 5 more articles in the media than Quest Diagnostics. MarketBeat recorded 21 mentions for Laboratory Co. of America and 16 mentions for Quest Diagnostics. Laboratory Co. of America's average media sentiment score of 1.21 beat Quest Diagnostics' score of 0.75 indicating that Laboratory Co. of America is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Laboratory Co. of America	16 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Quest Diagnostics	6 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is LH or DGX more profitable?

Quest Diagnostics has a net margin of 8.82% compared to Laboratory Co. of America's net margin of 3.43%. Laboratory Co. of America's return on equity of 15.27% beat Quest Diagnostics' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Laboratory Co. of America	3.43%	15.27%	7.13%
Quest Diagnostics	8.82%	15.25%	6.92%

Which has better earnings & valuation, LH or DGX?

Quest Diagnostics has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Laboratory Co. of America	$12.71B	1.52	$418M	$5.17	44.67
Quest Diagnostics	$9.54B	1.82	$854M	$7.44	20.90

Which has more volatility & risk, LH or DGX?

Laboratory Co. of America has a beta of 1.05, meaning that its stock price is 5% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Quest Diagnostics has a beta of 0.89, meaning that its stock price is 11% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Laboratory Co. of America beats Quest Diagnostics on 14 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.