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Quest Diagnostics (DGX) Gains But Lags Market: What You Should Know

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Quest Diagnostics (DGX - Free Report) closed at $121.74 in the latest trading session, marking a +0.51% move from the prior day. The stock lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.71%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.56%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.95%.

Coming into today, shares of the medical laboratory operator had lost 1.45% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 1.41%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.17%.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from DGX as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $3.96, up 137.13% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $2.83 billion, up 47.14% from the prior-year quarter.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for DGX. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.

The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 3.45% higher. DGX is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Looking at its valuation, DGX is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 11.47. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 32.91, which means DGX is trading at a discount to the group.

We can also see that DGX currently has a PEG ratio of 0.43. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. DGX's industry had an average PEG ratio of 3.01 as of yesterday's close.

The Medical - Outpatient and Home Healthcare industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 74, which puts it in the top 30% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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