Quest becomes in-network lab for UnitedHealth

Mizuho analyst Ann Hynes reiterates a Buy rating on Quest Diagnostics (DGX) and Neutral rating on LabCorp (LH) after UnitedHealth (UNH) announced that both companies will participate as national providers of laboratory services for the company effective January 1, 2019. LabCorp will lose its national exclusivity, but remains in-network, as UnitedHealth’s national laboratory provider while Quest will be in-network for all plan participants beginning January 1, Hynes tells investors in a research note. She believes the move will enable Quest to reach the high-end of its previously provided long-term outlook range. For LabCorp, the news is disappointing but likely expected and now an overhang has been removed, Haynes contends.

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