Quest Diagnostics Q2 Profit Declines, Confirms FY EPS Outlook

(RTTNews) - Quest Diagnostics Inc. (DGX) Thursday announced a decline in second quarter net income attributable to the company to $118 million or $0.81 per share from $133 million or $0.92 per share last year.

Reported net income in the quarter was negatively impacted by charges of $52 million after tax, or $0.36 per share, of which $41 million is associated with the company's recent debt refinancing. The results included amortization expense per share of $0.08 compared to $0.11 last year.

On an adjusted basis, net income was $170 million or $1.25 per share compared to $157 million or $1.19 per share in the previous year.

On average, 20 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.23 per share.

Revenue for the second quarter increased by 1.2 percent to $1.925 billion from $1.902 billion last year. Analysts were looking for $1.93 billion.

Looking ahead to the fiscal year, the company expects adjusted earnings per share, excluding amortization to be between $4.70 and $4.85, unchanged, while revenue projection is between $7.49 billion and $7.57 billion, up 2 to 3 percent from 2014. Wall Street is looking for $4.73 per share on a revenue of $7.59 billion.