Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (DGX) vs Waters Corporation (WAT)

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and Waters Corporation are both Diagnostics & Research companies. Waters Corporation is the larger, with a market value of $43.6B against $26.4B — 1.7× the size. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated trades at the lower P/E: 24.6× against 109×. Waters Corporation grew revenue faster over the last twelve months: 52.5% against 9.87%. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has the higher net margin (9.15% vs 3.59%) and the higher return on invested capital (7.94% vs 1.05%). Across the 22 metrics below, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated leads on 14 and Waters Corporation on 8.

Valuation

Metric DGX WAT Diagnostics & Research median
P/E 24.63 108.69 35.56
P/S 2.26 9.24 4.37
P/B 3.34 2.82 3.06
Price to free cash flow 19.34 117.05 35.76
EV/EBITDA 14.07 50.12 24.35
EV/Sales 2.69 10.18 5.51
Earnings yield 4.06% 0.92% (1.89%)
Free cash flow yield 5.17% 0.85% (0.15%)

Profitability

Metric DGX WAT Diagnostics & Research median
Gross margin 33.11% 50.89% 50.89%
Operating margin 14.10% 7.10% (8.57%)
Net margin 9.15% 3.59% (6.37%)
Free cash flow margin 11.67% 7.89% 0.00%
Return on equity 14.03% 1.92% (2.92%)
Return on assets 6.43% 1.13% (6.71%)
Return on invested capital 7.94% 1.05% 0.00%

Growth

Metric DGX WAT Diagnostics & Research median
Revenue growth (TTM) 9.87% 52.47% 7.69%
EPS growth (last fiscal year) 13.78% 0.47% 25.92%
Revenue growth, 5-year CAGR 3.18% 6.00% 7.40%
Net income growth, 5-year CAGR (7.06%) 4.26% 0.00%

Health

Metric DGX WAT Diagnostics & Research median
Debt to equity 0.72 0.32 0.11
Current ratio 1.59 1.86 2.02
Net debt to EBITDA 2.47 0.36 0.70

Dividend

Metric DGX WAT Diagnostics & Research median
Dividend yield 1.44% — 0.66%
Payout ratio 0.36 — 0.20

Size

Metric DGX WAT Diagnostics & Research median
Market cap 26.40b 43.64b 2.16b

Compare with another peer

Any metric, up to five companies and an Excel export Powerpack