LH vs. DGX, DVA, CHE, CRVL, AMED, MD, AMN, CCRN, NTRA, and EXAS
Should you be buying Laboratory Co. of America stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Laboratory Co. of America include Quest Diagnostics (DGX), 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).
Laboratory Co. of America vs.
Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX) and Laboratory Co. of America (NYSE:LH) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, community ranking, risk, valuation, profitability, dividends, analyst recommendations, media sentiment and institutional ownership.
88.1% of Quest Diagnostics shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 95.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are held by institutional investors. 0.8% of Quest Diagnostics shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.9% of Laboratory Co. of America shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, hedge funds and endowments believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, Quest Diagnostics had 8 more articles in the media than Laboratory Co. of America. MarketBeat recorded 14 mentions for Quest Diagnostics and 6 mentions for Laboratory Co. of America. Quest Diagnostics' average media sentiment score of 0.80 beat Laboratory Co. of America's score of 0.11 indicating that Quest Diagnostics is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Laboratory Co. of America received 81 more outperform votes than Quest Diagnostics when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 64.08% of users gave Laboratory Co. of America an outperform vote while only 49.45% of users gave Quest Diagnostics an outperform vote.
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.
Quest Diagnostics presently has a consensus target price of $172.15, indicating a potential upside of 12.30%. Laboratory Co. of America has a consensus target price of $260.54, indicating a potential upside of 8.48%. Given Quest Diagnostics' higher possible upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Quest Diagnostics is more favorable than Laboratory Co. of America.
Quest Diagnostics pays an annual dividend of $3.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Laboratory Co. of America pays an annual dividend of $2.88 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Quest Diagnostics pays out 40.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Laboratory Co. of America pays out 55.7% 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 13 consecutive years. Quest Diagnostics is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
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.
Quest Diagnostics has a beta of 0.9, indicating that its stock price is 10% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Laboratory Co. of America has a beta of 1.06, indicating that its stock price is 6% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Quest Diagnostics and Laboratory Co. of America tied by winning 11 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding {thisCompany.Symbol} 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.
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This page (NYSE:LH) was last updated on 1/17/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
