On January 30, 2025 Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE: DGX), a leading provider of diagnostic information services, reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2024 (Press release, Quest Diagnostics, JAN 30, 2025, View Source [SID1234649962]).
Schedule your 30 min Free 1stOncology Demo!
Discover why more than 1,500 members use 1stOncology™ to excel in:
Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing
Schedule Your 30 min Free Demo!
"In the fourth quarter, we delivered impressive revenue growth of nearly 15%, including approximately 5% organic growth, while also improving our profitability," said Jim Davis, Chairman, CEO, and President. "For the full year, we drove revenue growth of close to 7%, including approximately 3% from organic growth. Our team completed eight acquisitions, including LifeLabs in Canada, expanded our advanced diagnostics portfolio, and extended our geographic and market reach with new clinical, consumer and health plan customers."
Mr. Davis continued: "Our guidance for 2025 reflects our confidence in the core strength of our business, continuing robust utilization, and the momentum from acquisitions completed in 2024. These dynamics position us favorably to accelerate revenue and earnings growth in 2025."
Select 2024 full year accomplishments:
Completed eight acquisitions, including LifeLabs in Canada and four hospital outreach lab acquisitions.
Extended our health plan access to over 90% of in-network lives nationwide, including in new geographies through collaborations with Elevance Health and Sentara Health Plans, which took effect January 1, 2025.
Grew our Advanced Diagnostics portfolio, adding the sensitive p-tau217 and p-tau181 biomarkers to our AD-Detect blood-based test menu for assessing Alzheimer’s disease risk, and launching the first H5 avian influenza test from a commercial laboratory based on a pandemic preparedness contract from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Engaged approximately 75 academic, health system and community oncology centers in our Haystack MRD Early Experience Program, which provided oncologists with advanced access to our Haystack MRD blood test for aiding in the early detection of minimal residual disease from solid tumor cancers. We are now transitioning these organizations to a commercial program and are focused on expanding utilization among oncologists.
Expanded our questhealth.com consumer-initiated test platform to include approximately 135 tests, including micronutrient deficiencies and high-risk Lipoprotein(a) cholesterol testing.
Deployed automation and AI technologies across diverse laboratory, customer service and administrative areas, including automating core laboratory processes at three major regional laboratories, improving quality, customer experiences and productivity.
Three Months Ended December 31,
Twelve Months Ended December 31,
2024
2023
Change
2024
2023
Change
(dollars in millions, except per share data)
Reported:
Net revenues
$ 2,621
$ 2,288
14.5 %
$ 9,872
$ 9,252
6.7 %
Diagnostic information services revenues
$ 2,556
$ 2,221
15.1 %
$ 9,614
$ 8,976
7.1 %
Revenue per requisition
0.2 %
1.3 %
Requisition volume
13.9 %
5.5 %
Organic requisition volume
0.6 %
0.7 %
Operating income (a)
$ 361
$ 267
35.3 %
$ 1,346
$ 1,262
6.7 %
Operating income as a percentage of net revenues (a)
13.8 %
11.7 %
2.1 %
13.6 %
13.6 %
— %
Net income attributable to Quest Diagnostics (a)
$ 222
$ 192
15.1 %
$ 871
$ 854
2.0 %
Diluted EPS (a)
$ 1.95
$ 1.70
14.7 %
$ 7.69
$ 7.49
2.7 %
Cash provided by operations
$ 464
$ 527
(12.3) %
$ 1,334
$ 1,272
4.8 %
Capital expenditures
$ 123
$ 72
73.9 %
$ 425
$ 408
4.4 %
Adjusted (a):
Operating income
$ 409
$ 338
21.2 %
$ 1,541
$ 1,457
5.8 %
Operating income as a percentage of net revenues
15.6 %
14.8 %
0.8 %
15.6 %
15.8 %
(0.2) %
Net income attributable to Quest Diagnostics
$ 253
$ 245
3.7 %
$ 1,011
$ 994
1.8 %
Diluted EPS
$ 2.23
$ 2.15
3.7 %
$ 8.93
$ 8.71
2.5 %
(a)
For further details impacting the year-over-year comparisons related to operating income, operating income as a percentage of net revenues, net income attributable to Quest Diagnostics, and diluted EPS, see note 2 of the financial tables attached below.
Dividend Increased
Quest Diagnostics’ Board of Directors has authorized a 6.7% increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.75 to $0.80 per share, or $3.20 per share annually, effective with the dividend payable on April 21, 2025 to shareholders of record of Quest Diagnostics common stock on April 7, 2025. The company has raised its dividend annually since 2011.
Guidance for Full Year 2025
The company estimates its full year 2025 guidance in the table below. The company has included a presentation that includes additional guidance information on the Events and Presentations page of its investor relations website, which can be found at www.QuestDiagnostics.com/investor.
Low
High
Net revenues
$10.70 billion
$10.85 billion
Net revenues increase
8.4 %
9.9 %
Reported diluted EPS
$8.34
$8.59
Adjusted diluted EPS
$9.55
$9.80
Cash provided by operations
Approximately $1.45 billion
Capital expenditures
Approximately $500 million
Note on Non-GAAP Financial Measures
As used in this press release the term "reported" refers to measures under accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP"). The term "adjusted" refers to non-GAAP operating performance measures that exclude special items such as restructuring and integration charges, amortization expense, excess tax benefits ("ETB") associated with stock-based compensation, gains and losses associated with changes in the carrying value of our strategic investments, and other items.
Non-GAAP adjusted measures are presented because management believes those measures are useful adjuncts to GAAP results. Non-GAAP adjusted measures should not be considered as an alternative to the corresponding measures determined under GAAP. Management may use these non-GAAP measures to evaluate our performance period over period and relative to competitors, to analyze the underlying trends in our business, to establish operational budgets and forecasts and for incentive compensation purposes. We believe that these non-GAAP measures are useful to investors and analysts to evaluate our performance period over period and relative to competitors, as well as to analyze the underlying trends in our business and to assess our performance. The additional tables attached below include reconciliations of non-GAAP adjusted measures to GAAP measures.
Conference Call Information
Quest Diagnostics will hold its quarterly conference call to discuss financial results beginning at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time today. The conference call can be accessed by dialing 888-455-0391 within the U.S. and Canada, or 773-756-0467 internationally, passcode: 7895081; or via live webcast on our website at www.QuestDiagnostics.com/investor. We suggest participants dial in approximately 10 minutes before the call.
A replay of the call may be accessed online at www.QuestDiagnostics.com/investor or, from approximately 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time on January 30, 2025 until midnight Eastern Time on February 13, 2025, by phone at 866-360-8701 for domestic callers and 203-369-0179 for international callers. Anyone listening to the call is encouraged to read our periodic reports, on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the discussion of risk factors and historical results of operations and financial condition in those reports.