Sifting through countless of stocks in the Health Care Providers & Services industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in HCA Healthcare, Inc. or Quest Diagnostics Incorporated because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how HCA Healthcare, Inc. and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About HCA Healthcare, Inc. and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated

HCA Healthcare, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides health care services in the United States. The company owns, manages, and operates hospitals, ASCs, freestanding emergency care facilities, urgent care facilities, walk-in clinics, diagnostic and imaging centers, radiation and oncology therapy centers, as well as rehabilitation and physical therapy centers, physician practices, home health agencies, hospices, outpatient physical therapy providers, home and community-based services providers, and various other facilities. Its general and acute care hospitals offer medical and surgical services, including inpatient care, intensive care, cardiac care, diagnostic services, and emergency services; and outpatient services, such as outpatient surgery, laboratory, radiology, respiratory therapy, cardiology, and physical therapy. The company was formerly known as HCA Holdings, Inc. HCA Healthcare, Inc. was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated provides diagnostic testing and services in the United States. The company develops and delivers diagnostic information services, such as routine, non-routine and advanced clinical testing, anatomic pathology testing, and other diagnostic information services. It also provides services under the Quest Diagnostics brand, as well as under the AmeriPath, Dermpath Diagnostics, ExamOne, and Quanum brands to physicians, hospitals, patients and consumers, health plans, government agencies, employers, retailers, pharmaceutical companies and insurers commercial clinical laboratories, and accountable care organizations through a network of laboratories, patient service centers, phlebotomists in physician offices, call centers and mobile phlebotomists, nurses, and other health and wellness professionals. In addition, the company offers risk assessment services for the life insurance industry; healthcare IT healthcare providers and payers; testing and medical director services at hospital laboratories; test offerings in cardiometabolic and endocrine; cancer; clinical drug monitoring and toxicology; infectious disease, including autoimmune; neurology diagnostics, including Alzheimer’s disease; and women’s health, such as prenatal genetic; workplace drug testing, testing urine, hair, and oral fluid specimens services; and employer population health services, including biometric screenings, flu shots, and related preventative services. Further, it provides population health solutions; extended care services; develops in vitro diagnostic tests; laboratory diagnostic information and digital health connectivity systems; underwriting support services, including data gathering, paramedical examinations, and clinical laboratory testing and analytics; and national specimen collection and health data solutions. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Latest Health Care Providers & Services and HCA Healthcare, Inc., Quest Diagnostics Incorporated Stock News

As of September 8, 2026, HCA Healthcare, Inc. had a $87.0 billion market capitalization, compared to the Health Care Providers & Services median of $1.8 million. HCA Healthcare, Inc.’s stock is NA in 2026, NA in the previous five trading days and down 4.46% in the past year.

Currently, HCA Healthcare, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 13.5. HCA Healthcare, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $78.0 billion with a 8.8% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 8.7%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $29.491 per share for the current fiscal year. HCA Healthcare, Inc. currently has a 0.8% dividend yield.

Currently, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated’s price-earnings ratio is 25.0. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated’s trailing 12-month revenue is $11.6 billion with a 9.2% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 10.2%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $11.192 per share for the current fiscal year. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated currently has a 1.5% dividend yield.

How We Compare HCA Healthcare, Inc. and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at HCA Healthcare, Inc. and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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HCA Healthcare, Inc. and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
HCA Healthcare, Inc.	HCA	A
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated	DGX	D

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a Value Score of 84, which is Deep Value. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a Value Score of 35, which is Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: HCA Healthcare, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Value Grade breakdown above, HCA Healthcare, Inc. is considered to have better value than Quest Diagnostics Incorporated. For investors who focus solely on a company’s valuation, HCA Healthcare, Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

HCA Healthcare, Inc. and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
HCA Healthcare, Inc.	HCA	A
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated	DGX	C

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a Growth Score of 100, which is Very Strong. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a Growth Score of 56, which is Average.

The Growth Grade Winner: HCA Healthcare, Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a more attractive growth grade than Quest Diagnostics Incorporated. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, HCA Healthcare, Inc. could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

HCA Healthcare, Inc. and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
HCA Healthcare, Inc.	HCA	C
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated	DGX	B

Momentum grades help to uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming. Momentum is based on the price change of a stock over a specified period relative to all other stocks.

Typically, AAII looks at the weighted relative strength over the trailing four quarters. The weighted four-quarter relative strength rank is the relative price change for each of the past four quarters. The most recent quarterly price change is given a weight of 40% and each of the three previous quarters are given a weighting of 20%.

HCA Healthcare, Inc. has a Momentum Score of 48, which is Average. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a Momentum Score of 69, which is Strong.

The Momentum Grade Winner: Quest Diagnostics Incorporated

As you can clearly see from the Momentum Grade breakdown above, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated is considered to have stronger momentum compared to HCA Healthcare, Inc.. For those specifically looking for companies that have stronger momentum compared to other companies in the same industry, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other HCA Healthcare, Inc. and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated Grades

In addition to Momentum, Value and Growth, A+ Investor also provides grades for Estimate Revisions and Quality.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the ranking of key metrics. Specifically, the quality grade is the percentile rank of the composite of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and F-Score.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether HCA Healthcare, Inc. and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, HCA Healthcare, Inc. or Quest Diagnostics Incorporated Stock?

Overall, HCA Healthcare, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 84, Growth Score of 100 and Momentum Score of 48.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated stock has a Value Score of 35, Growth Score of 56 and Momentum Score of 69.

Comparing HCA Healthcare, Inc. and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.