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 Quest Diagnostics Incorporated or CVS Health Corporation 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 Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and CVS Health Corporation compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and CVS Health Corporation

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.

CVS Health Corporation provides health solutions in the United States. The company operates through Health Care Benefits, Health Services, and Pharmacy & Consumer Wellness segments. The Health Care Benefits segment offers traditional, voluntary, and consumer-directed health insurance products and related services, including medical, pharmacy, dental and behavioral health plans, medical management capabilities, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplement plans, PDPS and Medicaid health care management services. It serves employer groups, individuals, college students, part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers, governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups, and expatriates. The Health Services segment offers pharmacy benefit management solutions, including plan design and administration, formulary management, retail pharmacy network management, specialty and mail order pharmacy, clinical, disease management, medical spend management services, pharmacy and other administrative services. It serves employers, insurance companies, unions, government employee groups, health plans, PDPS, Medicaid managed care plans, CMS, plans offered on public health insurance, and other sponsors of health benefit plans. The Pharmacy & Consumer Wellness segment sells prescription and over-the-counter drugs, consumer health and beauty products, personal care products, and other general merchandise products. This segment also distributes prescription drugs; and provides related pharmacy consulting and other ancillary services to care facilities and other care settings. It operates online retail pharmacy websites, retail specialty pharmacy stores, compounding pharmacies and branches for infusion and enteral nutrition services. The company was formerly known as CVS Caremark Corporation and changed its name to CVS Health Corporation in September 2014. CVS Health Corporation was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

Latest Health Care Providers & Services and Quest Diagnostics Incorporated, CVS Health Corporation Stock News

As of April 20, 2026, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated had a $21.7 billion market capitalization, compared to the Health Care Providers & Services median of $1.5 million. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated’s stock is up 17.5% in 2026, up 5% in the previous five trading days and up 19.36% in the past year.

Currently, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated’s price-earnings ratio is 22.4. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated’s trailing 12-month revenue is $11.0 billion with a 9.0% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 7.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $10.634 per share for the current fiscal year. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated currently has a 1.8% dividend yield.

As of April 20, 2026, CVS Health Corporation had a $98.1 billion market cap, putting it in the 97th percentile of all stocks. CVS Health Corporation’s stock is down 2.3% in 2026, down 0.1% in the previous five trading days and up 11.71% in the past year.

Currently, CVS Health Corporation’s price-earnings ratio is 55.1. CVS Health Corporation’s trailing 12-month revenue is $399.8 billion with a 0.4% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 8.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $7.161 per share for the current fiscal year. CVS Health Corporation currently has a 3.5% dividend yield.

How We Compare Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and CVS Health Corporation 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 Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and CVS Health Corporation’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and CVS Health Corporation Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated	DGX	C
CVS Health Corporation	CVS	A

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.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a Growth Score of 56, which is Average. CVS Health Corporation has a Growth Score of 100, which is Very Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: CVS Health Corporation

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, CVS Health Corporation 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, CVS Health Corporation 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.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and CVS Health Corporation’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated	DGX	A
CVS Health Corporation	CVS	B

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks 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 the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a Quality Score of 95, which is Very Strong. CVS Health Corporation has a Quality Score of 69, which is Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: Quest Diagnostics Incorporated

As you can clearly see from the Quality Grade breakdown above, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a better overall quality grade than CVS Health Corporation. For investors who are looking for companies with higher quality than others in the same industry, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated could be a good stock to add to their portfolios. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and CVS Health Corporation’s Momentum Grades

Company	Ticker	Momentum
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated	DGX	C
CVS Health Corporation	CVS	C

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%.

Quest Diagnostics Incorporated has a Momentum Score of 46, which is Average. CVS Health Corporation has a Momentum Score of 41, which is Average.

The Momentum Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Quest Diagnostics Incorporated or CVS Health Corporation has a strong enough Momentum Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Quest Diagnostics Incorporated or CVS Health Corporation is the better investment when it comes to momentum.

Other Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and CVS Health Corporation Grades

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

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).

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.

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 Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and CVS Health Corporation pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated or CVS Health Corporation Stock?

Overall, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated stock has a Growth Score of 56, Momentum Score of 46 and Quality Score of 95.

CVS Health Corporation stock has a Growth Score of 100, Momentum Score of 41 and Quality Score of 69.

Comparing Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and CVS Health Corporation’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.