Laboratory Corp (LH) reported earnings on Wed 24 Oct 2018 (b/o)

** charts after earnings **

 

Laboratory Corp misses by $0.15, reports revs in-line; lowers FY18 guidance 

• Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $2.74 per share, which is negatively impacted by ~$0.10/share from the ransomware attack and Hurricane Florence, $0.15 worse than the S&P Capital IQ Consensus of $2.89; revenues rose 8.0% year/year to $2.83 bln vs the $2.84 bln S&P Capital IQ Consensus.
  • The increase in revenue was primarily due to growth from acquisitions of 6.5% and organic growth of 2.8%, partially offset by the negative impact from the disposition of businesses of 1.1% and foreign currency translation of ~30 basis points.
• Co lowers guidance for FY18, sees EPS of $11.25-11.45, excluding non-recurring items, vs. $11.53 S&P Capital IQ Consensus; sees FY18 revs +10.5-11% (implying $11.34-11.44 bln) vs. $11.43 bln S&P Capital IQ Consensus.
  • EPS guidance is lower than the prior guidance of $11.35 to $11.65 primarily due to the negative impact from the Business Disruptions of $0.10 per share as well as third quarter performance.
  • Revs guidance is a narrowing of the range from the prior guidance of 10.5% to 11.5%, and includes the impact from Business Disruptions of 10 basis points, as well as the 10 basis point unfavorable change in currency translation.

Earnings this week : Oct 22 - 26, 18 (wk 43)

With 17% of the S&P 500 having reported quarterly results, reported earnings are up 22%; 81% have beat on the bottom line but only 51% have traded higher in response.

This week marks the first of three very heavy weeks of earnings reports -- almost 1/3 of the S&P 500 will report quarterly results.

Monday (October 22):

• Pre-Market: HAL, HAS, IQV, KMB, LII, PII
• After-Hours: ACC AMTD BRO CDNS CR ELS HLX HMST HNI HSTM HXL IBTX LOGI MC NBTB RNST SFNC SLM SPN SSB ZION

Tuesday (October 23):

• Pre-Market: ABG ALKS ARCH ASTE  ATI AVY AXE BIIB  CAT CIT CNC DGX EDU FBC FCB FITB FNB GATX GLW GPK HBAN HOG HUBB JBLU LMT LPT MBFI MCD MMM NEE PCAR  PHM PNR PPBI RF SLCA SNV TRU UTX VZ WAT XRX
• After-Hours:  AGR AMP BXMT CB CHFC CNI COF CSGP CSL EQR EW FCF FMBI HA HIW IEX ILMN IRBT JNPR LRN MANH MKSI NAVI NBHC NDLS NTB NWE RHI ROIC RRC SEIC SIX STL TER TRMK TSS TXN UCBI UMBF USNA VAR VMI WRB ZIXI

Wednesday (October 24):

• Pre-Market: AB ALXN APH AVX BA BABY BCO BKU BOKF BPOP BSX CHKP CRS DTE EVR FCX FSV GD GRA HLT IR ITW LAD LH MHO MKTX NDAQ NOC NSC NYCB OC PB POL QSR RES ROL SCHN SCL SIRI SLAB SLGN SMPL STM T TDY THR TMO TNC TPH TRVG TUP TZOO UMC UPS
• After-Hours:  ABX AEM AFL AGNC AHL AKR ALGN ALGT AMD ANIK ARI ASGN AX AXS AZPN CCMP CLB CLGX CLS CMRE CTXS CURO  CUZ CVBF CVRR DLB DRE ECHO EFX EIG ELY EQC ETH F FARO FFIV FNF FR FTI FWRD GG GGG GHL ICLR KN KRA KRC LJPC LM LSTR LVS MEOH MLNX MSA MSFT MTH NEU NGD NGVT NOW OII ORLY PKG PLXS PS PTC RJF SAVE SITC SNBR SRPT SUI TILE TMK TRN TSLA UNM V VRTX WHR WPG WRI WSBC XLNX  (largest:  Ford Motor (F), Microsoft (MSFT), Visa (V), Advanced Micro (AMD) and Tesla (TSLA) )

Thursday (October 25):

• Pre-Market: AAL AAN ABB AEP AIMC ALK ALLE ALLY ARD ASPS AXTA BANC BC BEN BMS BMY BUD BWA CCE CELG CFR CFX CMC CMCSA CME CMS COLB COP COR COWN CPG CRI CRR CSTM CTS DLX DNKN EIGI EME ENTG EQM EQT FAF FBP FCFS FCN GLOP GPI GRUB GWB HEES HSY IMAX IP IRDM IRM KIM KKR LANC LAZ LDOS LEA LECO LKQ LUV MCK MCRN MMC MMYT MNRO MO MRK MTRN NEM NLSN NOK NRZ NVCR NVT OAK OCN ODFL ORI PAG PATK PDS PRLB PTEN PX RCL RS RTN SAH SCG SHOP SHW SILC SJR SPG SPGI SWK SXC TAL TECK THRM TROW TSCO TWTR  UBS UBSI UNP USG VC VLO VLP VLY WM WNS WSO WST WWE XEL
• After-Hours:  ACTG AJG AKS AMZN AQ ARLO AUY AVT BGG BMRN BOOM BOOT BVN BYD CA CBLK CENX CERN CINF CLD CMG COLM CPT CUBE CUBI CVA CXP CY DECK DFS DLR DORM ELLI EMN ENVA EXPE FBHS FE FHB FII FIX FLEX FSLR FTV GCAP GDI GILD GOOG HIG HLI HTA HTH HUBG INT INTC INVA ISBC JEF KEX LEG LMAT LOGM LPLA LSCC MAT MERC MHK MMSI MPWR MSTR NATI NOV NR NTGR OFC OMCL OSIS PFG PFPT POWI PRO PSMT REG RGA RMD RSG SAM SBCF SGEN SIGI SIVB SNAP SPSC SWN SYK TMST UHS VCRA VLRS VRSN VVI WDC WRE

Friday (October 26):

• Pre-Market:  ALV AON B CHTR CL COG COL FELE GBX GRC GT GVA LPNT MCO PFS POR PSX PSXP R ROP SBSI SMP TEN TOT  VRTS VTR WETF WY ZBH

UnitedHealth (UNH) : partnerships with Quest Diagnostics (DGX) and LabCorp (LH)

   

 

UnitedHealth establishes long-term strategic partnerships with Quest Diagnostics (DGX) and LabCorp (LH)

• UnitedHealthcare and Quest Diagnostics have established a long-term strategic partnership as the two organizations focus on ways to create more personalized care recommendations and a simpler consumer experience for the more than 48 million people enrolled in UnitedHealthcare plans. Quest will be in network for all UnitedHealthcare plan participants beginning Jan. 1, 2019. Quest has 6,000 patient access points and will be in network nationwide for all plan participants beginning Jan. 1, 2019.
• UnitedHealthcare and LabCorp renewed their long-term strategic partnership. LabCorp will continue to serve as UnitedHealthcare's exclusive national laboratory provider until Jan. 1, 2019. LabCorp offers nearly 5,000 frequently requested and specialty tests.

Quest Diagnostics (DGX) : Medicare proposes reimbursement cuts

Shares of Quest Diagnostics and its biggest rival LabCorp are falling sharply today in reaction to proposed Medicare reimbursement cuts that have been described by some analysts as "draconian."

 

The market for medical testing services is dominated by two players, Quest Diagnostics (DGX) and LabCorp (LH). The two companies each run a large chain of laboratories that conduct a slew of medical tests that help doctors diagnose and treat patients.

Late Friday, the Center for Medicare and Medicare Services released draft Medicare reimbursement rates for 2018 that were far worse than anyone expected. The word “draconian” has been used in several research notes.