Quest Diagnostics (DGX) Earnings: Q3 2026 Results

The quarter ended September 30, 2026 and Quest Diagnostics published the results on October 22, 2026. Revenue and diluted EPS are shown against Q3 2025, the same quarter a year earlier, which takes seasonal swings out of the comparison. Quest Diagnostics reports EPS two ways: GAAP, under the accounting rules every US filer follows, and adjusted, which leaves out items the company considers outside its operating results. The release reconciles the two, and when they diverge, the reconciliation says why.

• Quest Diagnostics' adjusted EPS excludes restructuring and integration charges, amortization of intangible assets, excess tax benefits from stock-based compensation, gains and losses on strategic investments and other items.

Source: Quest Diagnostics Q3 2026 results (Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1), October 22, 2026. Also in the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2026. Figures as reported; checked against the release on November 10, 2026.

How Quest Diagnostics splits revenue in its own release, under its own labels, for Q3 2026 against Q3 2025. Indented lines are parts of the line above them.

• Quest Diagnostics's Diagnostic Information Services revenue was $3.0 billion in Q3 2026, up 10% from $2.8 billion in Q3 2025, 98% of total revenue.
• Quest Diagnostics's Diagnostic Solutions revenue was $62.0 million in Q3 2026, up 2% from $61.0 million in Q3 2025, 2% of total revenue.

Segment lines are the figures writers cite most often, because they show where the growth in a quarter came from. Companies redraw their segments from time to time and restate the prior year to match, so a year-ago figure here can differ from the one printed a year ago. When that has happened, the note above says so.

From the earnings release

In its Q3 2026 release, Quest Diagnostics said:

“Full year 2026 revenues now expected to be between $12.065 billion and $12.105 billion”

“Full year 2026 reported diluted EPS now expected to be between $10.21 and $10.31; and adjusted diluted EPS expected to be between $11.25 and $11.35”

Source: Quest Diagnostics Q3 2026 release, Oct 22, 2026.

This is the company's own guidance as of Oct 22, 2026, quoted as given. Walnut does not make forecasts of its own. Analyst estimates for the coming quarters are on the DGX forecast page.

Revenue and diluted EPS for the last 5 quarters. Each date links to that quarter's release.

GAAP net revenues and diluted EPS attributable to Quest Diagnostics, each as first reported in that quarter's release.

We do not hold a confirmed date for Quest Diagnostics's next report. Companies post the date on their investor relations site a few weeks ahead, usually with the time of the conference call.

Each quarter keeps its own page with the figures as reported, so a link to one stays pointed at the same numbers after the next report.

• Q3 2026 (this page), reported Oct 22, 2026

Quest Diagnostics reported Q3 2026 net revenues of $3,097 million, up 10.0%. Almost all of it is Diagnostic Information Services, the lab testing business, at $3,035 million; Diagnostic Solutions, which sells risk assessment services to insurers and healthcare IT, brought in $62 million. (Quest Diagnostics Q3 2026 release, Oct 22, 2026; Quest Diagnostics Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 23, 2026)

Quest Diagnostics' 10-Q says DIS revenue growth was principally organic, at 10.1%. Requisition volume rose 14.5%, and 9.5% of that came from new relationships with Corewell Health for Collaborative Lab Solutions and more testing at Fresenius Medical Care dialysis clinics in the United States. Excluding those two, volume grew 5%. (Quest Diagnostics Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 23, 2026)

Revenue per requisition fell 4.2% at Quest Diagnostics, mainly because the Corewell Health and Fresenius Medical Care work includes a greater proportion of routine tests than most of its clinical testing. Excluding that mix effect, revenue per requisition rose 1.7%, primarily on more tests per requisition. (Quest Diagnostics Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 23, 2026)

By payer, healthcare insurers accounted for 37% of Quest Diagnostics' Q3 2026 net revenues (35% fee-for-service), client payers 33%, government payers 16% and patients 12%. Its customer channels are physicians, hospitals, and patients and consumers, plus health plans, employers, government agencies and pharmaceutical companies. (Quest Diagnostics Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 23, 2026; Quest Diagnostics Form 10-K, 2025, Feb 26, 2026)

Quest Diagnostics' GAAP diluted EPS was $2.78, up 28.7%, and adjusted EPS $3.00, up 15.4%. The largest exclusion is amortization of intangible assets, $37 million pre-tax or $0.24 a share. Restructuring and integration charges added $0.02 and other charges $0.03, while excess tax benefits from stock compensation of $0.05 and other gains of $0.04 were removed. (Quest Diagnostics Q3 2026 release, Oct 22, 2026)

GAAP EPS grew faster than adjusted EPS partly because the year-ago quarter carried more charges: $0.15 a share of other charges, including a $15 million legal charge and a $5 million impairment tied to exiting a business, and $0.07 of restructuring. GAAP operating income rose 24.2% to $479 million. (Quest Diagnostics Q3 2026 release, Oct 22, 2026)

Quest Diagnostics' diluted share count was 112 million, against 113 million. It repurchased 1.2 million shares for $250 million in the first nine months of 2026 and had $1.2 billion left under its authorization at September 30, 2026. (Quest Diagnostics Q3 2026 release, Oct 22, 2026; Quest Diagnostics Form 10-Q, Q3 2026, Oct 23, 2026)

Diluted EPS divides net income by the weighted average number of shares outstanding in the quarter, plus the shares that options and other equity awards could add. Buybacks shrink that count and lift EPS for the same profit; share issuance and stock awards enlarge it.

Quest Diagnostics raised its full-year 2026 guidance in the release. It now expects net revenues of $12.065 billion to $12.105 billion, up from a prior $11.95 billion to $12.05 billion, reported diluted EPS of $10.21 to $10.31 and adjusted EPS of $11.25 to $11.35, against a prior $11.05 to $11.25. It expects cash from operations of about $1.90 billion and capital expenditures of about $550 million. (Quest Diagnostics Q3 2026 release, Oct 22, 2026)

The gap between Quest Diagnostics' reported and adjusted EPS outlook is mostly amortization, which it puts at $0.99 a share on estimated pre-tax amortization of $149 million for 2026. (Quest Diagnostics Q3 2026 release, Oct 22, 2026)

A consensus figure is the average of the models published by the analysts who cover Quest Diagnostics, collected by a data provider and revised up to the day of the report. A quarter that lands above it says how expectations were set as much as how the business did, and the share price on the day also reflects the guidance and the lines no consensus covers.

The consensus figures on this page are Yahoo Finance's, as pulled on the date shown. Each comes with the number of analysts behind it; the smaller that number, the more one revised estimate can move the average.

The figures below are the ones Quest Diagnostics's own release and filings put weight on for Q3 2026, with the latest reported value for each.

What the quarter means for a holding is a separate question from what it reported. The case for and against owning DGX is on is DGX a buy or a sell?, what analysts expect next is on the DGX forecast, and what the company does is on the Quest Diagnostics (DGX) stock page.

Every number on this page can be traced to a document Quest Diagnostics published. Checking one takes a couple of minutes, and it is worth doing before you quote a figure anywhere.

• The results release is the document linked in the source line above. Companies publish it on their investor relations site at the moment results go out, and it carries the headline tables: revenue, operating income, net income and EPS for the quarter and the year-ago quarter.
• The same release is filed with the SEC as Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K under Item 2.02, usually on the day of the report. The SEC copy does not change after the fact, which makes it the safer thing to link when you cite a number.
• The quarterly report (Form 10-Q) follows within a few weeks and carries the full financial statements, the segment note and management's discussion of what changed. The fourth quarter is covered by the annual report (Form 10-K) instead.
• Restated comparisons are flagged in the notes on this page. When a company redraws its segments or changes how it adjusts EPS, it restates the year-ago column, so the year-ago figure in a new release can differ from the one printed a year ago. This page always uses the comparison in the newer release, because that is the like-for-like one.

A walk-through of every line in a release, with what each one tells you, is in how to read an earnings report.