Quest falls 7% after missing estimates and lowering guidance for revenue

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (DGX) dropped over 7% in mid-morning trade on Tuesday after its revenues for the third quarter of 2018 missed expectations. Earnings for the quarter came in line with estimates. As of 12:20 pm ET, the stock was down 6.7%.

Net revenues grew 1.8% to $1.88 billion from the same period last year. Net income attributable to Quest Diagnostics improved 32% to $213 million or $1.53 per share from the prior-year quarter. Adjusted EPS grew 25% to $1.68.

Diagnostic Information Services revenue rose 1.9%. Revenue per requisition declined 0.8% while requisition volume increased 2%.

Steve Rusckowski, Chairman, President and CEO said, “We grew revenues and continued to deliver strong earnings growth in the third quarter. We had a productive quarter, announcing three acquisitions and a Professional Lab Services agreement. We are updating our full-year revenue guidance to reflect lower than expected revenue performance this year, which has been affected in large part by industry headwinds we called out in the previous quarter. Looking ahead, our acquisition pipeline, along with our expanding health plan access, including UnitedHealthcare beginning January 1, position us well for growth in 2019.”

Quest Diagnostics profit jumps 14% in Q2

Quest revised its outlook for full-year 2018. The company lowered its revenue guidance to approx. $7.62 billion from the previous range of $7.70 billion to $7.74 billion. This reflects a revenue growth of around 3% versus the prior range of 4-4.5%.

Reported diluted EPS is now expected to come in between $5.57 and $5.64 versus the previous outlook of $5.50 to $5.64. Adjusted diluted EPS is expected to be $6.53 to $6.60 versus the prior outlook of $6.53 to $6.67.

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