ABT vs LH: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of October 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. ABT and LH share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined ABT and LH exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Abbott Laboratories is a global healthcare company headquartered in North Chicago, Illinois, that discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products in more than 160 countries through four segments: Medical Devices, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Established Pharmaceutical Products. Medical Devices, the largest segment at roughly $21.4 billion in 2025 revenue, includes the FreeStyle Libre family of continuous glucose monitors, structural heart products (Navitor, TriClip), electrophysiology systems (AVEIR leadless pacemaker, Volt pulsed field ablation, TactiFlex Duo), vascular devices, and heart-failure technologies (CardioMEMS). Diagnostics contributed roughly $8.9 billion in 2025 before the Exact Sciences deal, Nutrition roughly $8.5 billion (anchored by Similac infant formula and Ensure adult nutrition), and Established Pharmaceuticals roughly $5.5 billion in branded generics sold primarily in emerging markets.

Full ABT guide

Labcorp Holdings is a leading US healthcare diagnostics company that runs clinical laboratory tests for physicians, hospitals, health systems, and patients, and also provides laboratory services to pharmaceutical and biotech firms running clinical trials. Its two reporting segments are Labcorp Diagnostics, the routine and specialty testing business that processes millions of patient samples, and Labcorp Biopharma Laboratory Services, which supports drug development with central-lab and early-development testing. Alongside domestic rival Quest Diagnostics, Labcorp is one of the two dominant independent lab networks in the country. The company spun off its clinical-trial contract-research organization, Fortrea, in 2023 to focus on core testing.

Full LH guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• ABT drivers: FreeStyle Libre: A Platform, Not Just a Product; Cardiovascular and Electrophysiology Momentum.
• LH drivers: Recurring diagnostics volume and scale; Hospital-lab acquisitions and outreach deals.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The most acute near-term risk is infant formula litigation: juries have delivered verdicts including a $53 million compensatory award in late March 2026 and a separately upheld $495 million verdict, with hundreds of additional NEC-related cases pending, and a securities class action filed in 2026 adds a parallel legal exposure track targeting alleged investor misstatements. For LH, labcorp's biggest risk is reimbursement pressure, since a large share of revenue depends on rates set by Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial payers, and legislated fee cuts under frameworks like PAMA can compress pricing.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick ABT if you believe its drivers more; LH if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the ABT and LH guides.

ABT. ABT's trailing GAAP P/E of about 34x is inflated by acquisition amortization and one-time costs from the Exact Sciences deal; on forward earnings the stock trades near 17x, well below its own 5-year and 10-year historical averages, after a roughly 16% decline in 2026. Revenue growth has remained positive, and the raised adjusted EPS guidance of $5.45-$5.60 implies a forward adjusted P/E of about 19x at the October 16 price of $104.44, below the average analyst target of about $121. Q3 2026 results are due October 21, with company guidance of $1.38-$1.46 adjusted EPS and consensus near $1.41 on about $13.0 billion of sales.

LH. As of October 16, 2026 Labcorp carried a market cap around $26 billion, up from about $24 billion in July, inside a 52-week range of roughly $245 to $342 per share. The trailing P/E near 26.5x compresses to roughly 16x on forward adjusted earnings, a valuation that sits below many healthcare peers and that reflects steady mid-single-digit revenue growth rather than rapid expansion. Analysts' mean target is about $345 with a buy consensus, and the October 28 third-quarter report is the next test of the full-year guidance.

Headline figures (approximate, October 2026): ABT shows revenue (ttm) ~$46.6 billion (Q2 2026 sales $12.59 billion, +13% reported, +4.8% comparable), revenue (fy 2025) ~$44.3 billion (+5.7% YoY), net income (ttm) ~$5.4 billion (GAAP EPS ~$3.10), net profit margin (ttm) ~11.7%; LH shows revenue (ttm) ~$14.35 billion (Q2 2026 +5.8% YoY), revenue guidance (fy2026) ~$14.6-14.8 billion (consensus ~$14.75 billion), net income (ttm) ~$1.0 billion (EPS ~$12.09), adjusted eps (fy2026) guidance ~$17.70-18.35; consensus ~$18.35.

ABT and LH are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined ABT and LH exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.