Quest Diagnostics initiated with a Neutral at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler analyst David Westenberg initiated coverage of Quest Diagnostics with a Neutral rating and $145 price target. The company has meaningful competitive advantages via scale and is likely to “be a mainstay of the industry for decades,” the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm thinks Quest can grow earnings in the high single digits but sees stock appreciation on an earnings basis at slightly less than the threshold for an Overweight rating. Piper expects a market-return in the shares.