Stocks · Healthcare · Medical - Diagnostics & Research
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated DGX
$233.33 +0.97% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $25.74B
Low risk
Next earnings report: Oct 22, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- At 24.8× trailing earnings, the shares trade at the highest P/E of the company's past five years.
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 14 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +5.7%).
- The stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 96 trading days, with the 50-day average above the 200-day.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Healthcare sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
Growth37Weak
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 48%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 45%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Bottom 39%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 34%
- Revenue growth accelerationBottom 39%
Quality71Positive
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 19%
- Gross marginBottom 22%
- Operating marginTop 19%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 44%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 37%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 32%
- Interest coverTop 23%
Value72Positive
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 13%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 19%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 18%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 35%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 3%
Momentum71Positive
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 43%
- 6-month returnTop 40%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 37%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 8%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 39%
Revisions32Weak
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 46%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 2%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 7%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 15%
Stability95Exceptional
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 6%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 1%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 3%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 32%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 11.0% | 9.9% | ↓ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 14.3% | 12.8% | ↓ |
| Gross margin | 33.0% | 33.1% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 14.0% | 14.1% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 11.6% | 10.6% | ↓ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 9.9% | 11.0% | ↓ | Top 48% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 12.8% | 14.3% | ↓ | Top 45% |
| Gross margin | 33.1% | 33.0% | ↑ | Bottom 22% |
| Operating margin | 14.1% | 14.0% | ↑ | Top 19% |
| Net margin | 9.2% | 9.0% | ↑ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 10.6% | 11.6% | ↓ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 8.3% | — | Top 19% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 3.7% | — | Bottom 34% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 1.67×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -4.2%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.5%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- +7.5 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 2.87×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 6.2×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 1.41%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 2.00%
- Shareholder yield
- 3.41%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -0.9%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -0.6%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 23, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 14
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +5.7%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +5.5%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 6 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $248.57
- Target vs current price
- +6.5%
- Analysts with a rating
- 34
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 38%
- Consensus rating
- Hold
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 2026 | +10.6% | +8.6% | +12.1% | +15.2% | — |
| Apr 21, 2026 | +5.5% | +4.4% | +0.2% | -3.3% | +6.7% |
| Feb 10, 2026 | +2.5% | +7.4% | +7.4% | +5.0% | -1.1% |
| Oct 21, 2025 | +4.0% | -3.0% | -5.3% | -2.2% | -0.1% |
| Jul 22, 2025 | +1.9% | +7.1% | +0.8% | +7.5% | +11.4% |
| Apr 22, 2025 | +2.8% | +6.8% | +9.2% | +10.0% | +3.9% |
| Jan 30, 2025 | +1.8% | +5.6% | +6.1% | +10.4% | +11.8% |
| Oct 22, 2024 | +1.8% | +6.9% | +5.8% | +10.0% | +2.6% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 23, 2026 | $3.12 | $2.82 | +10.6% | $3.04B |
| Apr 21, 2026 | $2.50 | $2.37 | +5.5% | $2.90B |
| Feb 10, 2026 | $2.42 | $2.36 | +2.5% | $2.81B |
| Oct 21, 2025 | $2.60 | $2.50 | +4.0% | $2.82B |
| Jul 22, 2025 | $2.62 | $2.57 | +1.9% | $2.76B |
| Apr 22, 2025 | $2.21 | $2.15 | +2.8% | $2.65B |
| Jan 30, 2025 | $2.23 | $2.19 | +1.8% | $2.62B |
| Oct 22, 2024 | $2.30 | $2.26 | +1.8% | $2.49B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 24.8× | 19.4× | 100th | Top 13% |
| P/E (forward) | 20.8× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 15.7× | — | — | Top 18% |
| EV / Sales | 2.72× | — | — | Top 35% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 4.74% | — | — | Top 19% |
| Earnings yield | 4.04% | — | — | Top 13% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 8.3× – 24.2× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +28.2%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +12.8%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +18.5%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✗ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 96
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- +4.8%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +2.6%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -1.9%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +13.2%
- RSI (14)
- 45.0
- Relative volume
- 0.97×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 26.8%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 91th percentile · High for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.01
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.00
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -5.7%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -12.9%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dec 31, 2021 | Oct 12, 2023 | -30.3% | 447 days | 341 days (Feb 24, 2025) |
| Feb 1, 2021 | Feb 25, 2021 | -14.0% | 17 days | 39 days (Apr 22, 2021) |
| Feb 27, 2026 | May 15, 2026 | -11.9% | 54 days | 29 days (Jun 29, 2026) |
| Sep 8, 2021 | Oct 11, 2021 | -11.2% | 23 days | 40 days (Dec 7, 2021) |
| May 10, 2021 | Jun 1, 2021 | -10.0% | 15 days | 42 days (Jul 30, 2021) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $25.74B
- P/E (TTM)
- 24.8
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $9.42
- Revenue (TTM)
- $11.56B
- Dividend yield
- 1.45%
- 52-week range
- $171.18 – $248.84
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $10.79B | $9.88B | $9.25B | $9.87B | $11.04B |
| Gross profit | $4.21B | $3.43B | $3.07B | $3.24B | $3.52B |
| Operating income | $2.38B | $1.43B | $1.26B | $1.35B | $1.60B |
| Net income | $2.00B | $946.0M | $854.0M | $871.0M | $992.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $15.53 | $7.98 | $7.52 | $7.69 | $8.75 |
| Q3 2024 | Q4 2024 | Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $2.49B | $2.62B | $2.65B | $2.76B | $2.82B | $2.81B | $2.90B | $3.04B |
| Net income | $226.0M | $222.0M | $220.0M | $282.0M | $245.0M | $245.0M | $252.0M | $320.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.99 | $1.95 | $1.94 | $2.47 | $2.16 | $2.18 | $2.24 | $2.84 |
| FY 2021 | FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $2.23B | $1.72B | $1.27B | $1.33B | $1.89B |
| Capital expenditure | -$403.0M | -$404.0M | -$408.0M | -$425.0M | -$527.0M |
| Free cash flow | $1.83B | $1.31B | $864.0M | $909.0M | $1.36B |
| Dividends paid | -$309.0M | -$305.0M | -$314.0M | -$331.0M | -$353.0M |
| Net share buybacks | -$2.20B | -$1.41B | -$275.0M | -$151.0M | -$371.0M |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $626.0M
- Total assets
- $16.94B
- Total liabilities
- $9.12B
- Total debt
- $6.38B
- Net debt
- $5.76B
- Shareholders’ equity
- $7.52B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Jul 23, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 6, 2026 | $0.86 | Oct 21, 2026 |
| Jul 8, 2026 | $0.86 | Jul 22, 2026 |
| Apr 6, 2026 | $0.86 | Apr 20, 2026 |
| Jan 13, 2026 | $0.80 | Jan 28, 2026 |
| Oct 3, 2025 | $0.80 | Oct 20, 2025 |
| Jul 7, 2025 | $0.80 | Jul 21, 2025 |
| Apr 7, 2025 | $0.80 | Apr 21, 2025 |
| Jan 14, 2025 | $0.75 | Jan 29, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 3,600,559
- Days to cover
- 3.69
- Change vs previous report
- +4.5%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Jun 21, 2005
- 2-for-1
- Jun 1, 2001
- 2-for-1