Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of Quest Diagnostics Inc. (DGX) from UNDERPERFORM to NEUTRAL on February 07, 2014, with a target price of $54.00.
After several of quarters of disappointing performances, Quest Diagnostics managed to post a decent fourth quarter 2013 with square beat. The quarter's adjusted EPS from continuing operations of $1.03 surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 9.6% and the year-ago earnings by 2%. Although, revenue from continuing operations for the quarter was down 1.0% year over year to $1.76 billion, it remained marginally ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.73 billion. The current market environment continues to pose challenges in the form of lower health care utilization and Medicare cuts. However, we are positive on favorable demographic trend, the company's organizational restructuring initiative and its strategy to focus on core diagnostics information service business. Accordingly, we upgrade the stock to Neutral.
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