People volunteer for Covid-19 surveillance tests using the Quest Diagnostics self-diagnosed PCR test on July 12, 2020 in Livingston, Montana.
William Campbell | Getty Images
Quest Diagnostics said on Thursday that continued high demand for Covid-19 testing has helped drive record revenue and earnings for the company in the fourth quarter and throughout 2020.
While the coronavirus pandemic disrupted routine blood tests and molecular tests that cover much of the company’s operations, Quest steadily increased its ability last year to perform Covid-19 tests.
Here’s how Quest performed compared to what Wall Street expected, based on average estimates from analysts compiled by Refinitiv:
- Adjusted EPS: $ 4.48 versus $ 4.24 expected.
- Revenue: $ 3 billion compared to $ 2.93 billion expected.
The company reported net income of more than $ 3 billion for the quarter ended December 31, up nearly 56% from $ 1.93 billion in the same period in 2019. On an unadjusted basis, the company’s profits doubled to $ 579 million, up from $ 253 million at the same time last year.
“In a pandemic-dominated year, Quest has brought critical COVID-19 tests to our country and delivered record revenue, earnings and cash from operations for the fourth quarter and full year 2020,” said Quest President and CEO Steve Rusckowski in a statement.
Rusckowski announced that the company will increase its dividend by 10.7% to 62 cents per quarter and will authorize a $ 1 billion increase in its share repurchase plan.
Quest and other major diagnostic laboratories were at the center of control during the summer, when demand for Covid-19 testing services increased dramatically amid a resurgence of infections in parts of the country, especially the Sun Belt. In July, the company acknowledged that it took more than a week to change the results of coronavirus testing for most patients, similar to competitors such as LabCorp.
Politicians have insisted in laboratories on what caused the delay in change, while some public health specialists called for the need to study and launch new types of tests. While some progress has been made in developing new rapid antigen tests, PCR molecular tests, such as those processed by Quest laboratories, remain the gold standard in the country.
CEO Rusckowski noted that the company’s non-Covid business recovered in the summer and fall, with new cases falling daily in the United States, but the recovery came to a halt as the country approached winter and another wave of cases.
“The declines in our core business recovered quickly throughout the summer and fall; however, the recovery stopped in late November through December due to increasing COVID-19 infections across the country,” Rusckowski said. . “Continuous high demand for COVID-19 testing has driven our performance in the second half of the year.”
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