DGX
QUEST DIAGNOSTICS INCEvidence as of 2026-10-16The desk's Snapshot
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Overview · QUEST DIAGNOSTICS INC
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated provides diagnostic testing, information, and services in the United States and internationally. The company develops and delivers diagnostic information services, such as routine testing, non-routine and advanced clinical testing, anatomic pathology testing, and other diagnostic information services. It offers diagnostic information services primarily under the Quest Diagnostics brand,…
Management team
- Mr. Gary D. Samuels · Senior VP & Chief Communications OfficerFind on LinkedIn
- Ms. Kristin Lee Wallace Esq. · Senior VP & Chief Compliance OfficerFind on LinkedIn
- Mr. Shawn C. Bevec · Vice President of Investor RelationsFind on LinkedIn
- Ms. Gabrielle Wolfson · Senior VP and Chief Information & Digital OfficerFind on LinkedIn
Start free to see the full management team.
Links open LinkedIn searches, not verified profiles. Team data from our market-data vendor's company profile.
Moneyta sentiment
Where the published evidence leans after the desk debated it, not a rating or a recommendation.
−0.3 on a −2 to +2 scale.
What builds the score
Solid bars are analyst rubric scores; faded bars are computed directly from data. Claims dropped in debate count for nothing; weakened claims count at half weight.
Editor's note
Written after the debate settled. The rest of the page is the evidence behind it.
The evidence balance is Mixed ( -0.3 of a possible +2 ) with high confidence. Revenue in Q2 2026 (fiscal quarter ended 2026-07-15) was $ 3,043,000,000 versus $ 2,761,000,000 in Q2 2025 (fiscal quarter ended 2025-07-15), and reported net income rose to $ 320,000,000 from $ 282,000,000 over the same comparable quarters. Diluted EPS moved from $ 2.47 to $ 2.84 while weighted-average diluted shares were essentially flat-to-slightly lower ( 113,000,000 versus 112,000,000), even as gross margin compressed modestly from about 34.2% to about 33.8%.
Balance-sheet and market signals coexist with these operating results: long-term debt was broadly stable at $ 5,642,000,000 as of 2026-06-30 versus $ 5,671,000,000 as of 2025-12-31, the share price shows a golden-cross with positive multi-horizon momentum (three-month +13.5%, six-month +25.4%, 12_1 +39.2%), volatility is elevated (30-day annualized 24.3%), and simple valuation metrics are mixed (P/FCF 70.86, EV/EBITDA 13.9, P/E 24.63, trailing FCF $ 378,000,000).
How this note was made
every stage ran before the note was writtenAnalyst desk
Mercer, Oakes, Nash, Ellis, Yates, Talbot and Archer. The desk: named AI agents, not people. Each reads one slice of the evidence and nothing else (no outside knowledge, no browsing), so every finding traces to a source you can open.
Reads the XBRL figures companies file with the SEC (revenue, margins, income, debt and share count, quarter by quarter) and reports which way the trend is running.
Revenue was $3,043,000,000 in fiscal Q2 2026 (2026-04-01 to 2026-06-30, 3mo), up from $2,761,000,000 in fiscal Q2 2025 (2025-04-01 to 2025-06-30, 3mo), indicating higher quarterly revenue year-over-year between those comparable fiscal quarters.
XBRL companyfacts · 0001022079-26-000070Gross margin (Revenue minus CostOfRevenue) was about 33.8% in fiscal Q2 2026 (Revenue $3,043,000,000; CostOfRevenue $2,016,000,000) versus about 34.2% in fiscal Q2 2025 (Revenue $2,761,000,000; CostOfRevenue $1,818,000,000), showing a small year-over-year gross margin compression between those two quarters.
XBRL companyfacts · 0001022079-26-000070Reads the filings themselves, above all the year-over-year diff of Item 1A risk factors: which risks a company added, dropped or quietly reworded since its last annual report.
Which filings the desk reads
The desk reads the annual 10-K in full: its risk factors, and how they changed since last year. Quarterly 10-Qs and event filings (8-Ks, insider Form 4s) are listed for context but not read line by line: the 10-K is where the material risk disclosures live. A brand-new company, or one we have only just begun tracking, may have no annual report on file yet; its risk analysis fills in once that lands.
In the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26, management added or expanded risk language noting that the diagnostic information services industry faces changing technology and new product introductions (including AI-enabled and point-of-care testing) that could alter competitive dynamics and service delivery.
10-K filed 2026-02-26In the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-26, the company states that as of December 31, 2025 it had approximately $5.7 billion of debt outstanding and that its debt agreements contain various restrictive covenants.
10-K filed 2026-02-26Reads the signal panel above (momentum, volatility, drawdown, relative strength and beta) and ranks each against the whole research universe rather than judging it in isolation.
Three-month momentum is +13.5% and six-month momentum is +25.4% as of 2026-10-15, with the six-month momentum at the 84th percentile of a 882-stock research universe.
Moneyta signal set · 2026-10-15weakened in debateThe 12_1 momentum metric is +39.2% and ranks at the 81th percentile of 882 as of 2026-10-15.
Moneyta signal set · 2026-10-15weakened in debateReads which funds hold the name and at what weight, plus insider Form 4 filings, to show the exposure you may already carry through index funds.
Institutional investors reported holding a total of $20.57B of the company as of 2026-06-30.
13F holdings · 1115 filers · as of 2026-06-30Top reported 13F holders for the period ending 2026-06-30 included BlackRock, Inc. ($1.97B), VANGUARD CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC ($1.53B), VANGUARD PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT LLC ($1.30B), STATE STREET CORP ($1.17B), and Boston Partners ($1.00B).
13F holdings · 1115 filers · as of 2026-06-30Reads recent headlines that are genuinely about this company, ignoring rating chatter and market-wide stories. Findings argue in the debate but never move the sentiment score.
Two headlines published 14 October 2026 frame Quest Diagnostics as positioned ahead of fiscal Q3 2026 earnings, noting expected revenue and EPS growth and citing drivers such as clinical demand, advanced diagnostics and operational efficiencies.
News · finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-14A headline on 14 October 2026 with the same wording appears on zacks.com, indicating that at least one additional outlet is carrying the 'placed ahead of Q3 earnings' theme.
News · zacks.com · 2026-10-14Reads parsed Forms 3/4/5: who bought or sold, at what size, and whether a 10b5-1 plan was involved. Flags clustered open-market officer buying; treats plan sales as routine and never counts a fund or 10%-holder as an officer.
Davis J. E. (CEO and President) sold 10,000 shares for "$2.4M" on 2026-09-01 under a stated 10b5-1 plan.
Form 4 · Davis J. E. (CEO and President) · $2.4M sold · 2026-09-01PREVOZNIK MICHAEL E (SVP & General Counsel) recorded multiple transactions on 2026-08-28 totaling 39,357 shares (22677 coded as "M", 16010 sold, 6237 sold, 430 sold, and 1,000 coded as "G") and values shown include "$2.5M", "$3.9M", "$1.5M", "$105k", and "$0" respectively; the filings state these were under a 10b5-1 plan.
Form 4 · PREVOZNIK MICHAEL E (SVP & General Counsel) · $2.5M code M · 2026-08-28Reads the implied-expectations math built from the company's own filings (the growth rate today's price would justify, and the multiples beside it) and argues whether the market's bar looks high or low for this business. Never turns the math into a target.
The model finds an implied free cash flow (FCF) growth rate of 0.4318 (43.18%) that today's price would justify under the stated discount and terminal assumptions.
Valuation inputs · SEC XBRL + stored EOD closePrice-to-free-cash-flow (P/FCF) based on trailing twelve months FCF is 70.86.
Valuation inputs · SEC XBRL + stored EOD closeDebate and risk review
A bull and a bear contest the claims and the chair rules on each; the risk review stress-tests what survived.
A bull and a bear argue the analysts' claims across two rounds, then a chair rules on each one. Only what survives feeds the score. The argument is shown, not hidden, so you can judge the reasoning yourself.
Several company-reported operating metrics and market signals together support a favorable read: revenue, net income, and diluted EPS all rose year-over-year in fiscal Q2 2026, long-term debt remained broadly stable, and the stock shows strong medium-term price momentum with increased institutional ownership and ETF inclusion. Recent positive news items—coverage of a clinical validation study for the Haystack MRD test and multiple outlets framing the company as value-oriented ahead of Q3—align with the fundamentals and may help explain the momentum. While risk disclosures, insider sales, and elevated implied valuation metrics are noted in filings and the model, the observable operating improvements and payout history (dividend yield with three-year growth) provide countervailing evidence of operational resilience and investor interest. Taken jointly, the stronger quarterly results, improving EPS per share, broad institutional holdings, and positive news flow form the core support for a favorable interpretation of the evidence set.
Chair's verdict, claim by claim
Fragility · computed, not argued
balanced0.36
36 surviving claims rest on 15 distinct sources; the heaviest analyst carries 19% of them, and 97% of what the desk raised survived the debate.
The surviving set rests on a moderate number of independent sources but a relatively small analyst concentration; one analyst accounts for nearly a fifth of claims while most claims survived internal debate. That combination raises caution about over-weighting novel or desk-specific interpretations — high survival through debate suggests internal consensus, but the read is somewhat fragile to new, high-quality contradicting evidence from filings, market moves, or issuer disclosures.
Peer context · computed, not argued
12-1 momentum ranks 6th of 10 in Diagnostics & Research (as of 2026-10-15).
90-day volatility ranks 10th of 10 in Diagnostics & Research (as of 2026-10-15).
dividend yield ranks 1st of 10 in Diagnostics & Research (as of 2026-10-15).
Disconfirming evidence · base rates · falsifiers
Context
Outside consensus, and where this name already sits in your own portfolio.
Third-party consensus shown for context. It never enters Moneyta sentiment. When the two diverge, the debate above is where the why lives.
What this was built from
Every figure on this page traces to one of these. The desk reads only what is listed here (no outside knowledge, no browsing), and each card shows who read it and what it contributed to the score.
11 filings· 2 cited
SEC XBRL filings
Quarterly figures as filed with the SEC, read straight from EDGAR's structured data, not retyped or estimated.
Read by Mercer+0.6 to the score
7 documents· 2 cited
SEC filing documents
The filings themselves, including the year-over-year comparison of Item 1A risk factors.
Read by Oakes−0.8 to the score
1 signal set
Moneyta signal set
Computed from our own end-of-day price history and ranked against the whole research universe. No AI involved.
Read by Nash+0.3 to the score
3 holdings records· 1 cited
Fund holdings
Which funds hold this name and at what weight, plus insider Form 4 filings.
Read by Ellis+0.8 to the score
5 headlines· 2 cited
News coverage
Recent headlines about this company, rating chatter excluded and nothing published after the report date.
Read by Yatesnothing survived
11 filings· 2 cited
Insider filings
Parsed Forms 3/4/5 from EDGAR: named insiders, share counts, prices, and 10b5-1 plan state, with stated and inferred flags kept apart.
Read by Talbot−1.0 to the score
1 computation
Valuation inputs
TTM cash-flow figures from the company's own XBRL filings, priced with the stored closing price. Implied growth and multiples only; no fair-value dollar figure reaches the desk, by design.
Read by Archercontext only
1 record· 0 cited
Company profile
Sector, industry and company details.
1 record· 0 cited
Analyst consensus
Third-party consensus, shown for context only; it never enters Moneyta sentiment.
Read means we pulled and handed it to an analyst; cited means a claim on this page points at it. Reading twelve quarters to state one trend is normal; the gap is shown rather than hidden.
Written by AI, checked against sources
The analysts, the bull–bear debate and the editor's note are AI agents reading only the evidence listed on this page. They can misread a filing or a headline, which is why every claim cites a source you can open and check yourself. The sentiment score is arithmetic over the claims that survived the debate, not a language model's opinion.
Educational analysis of published data. Moneyta does not give investment advice or make recommendations. Past patterns do not indicate future results.
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Institutional holders
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