DGX vs. MDLN: Quest Diagnostics vs. Medline Stock Comparison

Company Profile

Quest Diagnostics (DGX) and Medline (MDLN) both fall under the Health Care Equipment & Services industry group, but DGX is classified in Health Care Providers & Services while MDLN is classified in Health Care Equipment & Supplies.

Quest Diagnostics (DGX) has been public since December 17, 1996, giving it decades of market history across multiple cycles, while Medline (MDLN) listed only on December 17, 2025 and lacks comparable through-cycle data.

Price Performance

Cumulative Growth

Trailing Returns

Calendar-Year Returns

Performance Metrics

Risk Profile

Drawdown History

Return Distribution

Risk Metrics

Medline (MDLN) reports a negative beta of -0.93, suggesting inverse market sensitivity over the measurement window. That is uncommon for ordinary equities and can reflect commodity-linked or hedge-like exposure, but it can also come from statistical noise. Quest Diagnostics (DGX) has a non-negative beta of 0.54.

Risk-Adjusted Performance

Risk-Return Positioning

Both DGX and MDLN need 1-year volatility and 1-year return to plot risk-return positioning.

Risk-Adjusted Metrics

Profitability

Quest Diagnostics (DGX) at 15.32% sits in the top ROE quartile, while Medline (MDLN) at 4.85% is closer to the peer norm — stronger capital efficiency for DGX.

Quest Diagnostics (DGX) at 9.54% retains a top-quartile share of revenue as profit, ahead of Medline (MDLN) at 1.85%, which keeps about the industry-typical share.

Quest Diagnostics (DGX) at 15.63% operates in the top operating margin quartile, ahead of Medline (MDLN) at 5.22%, which runs around its industry’s norm.

Profitability Metrics

Growth

Only one side can be read here: Quest Diagnostics (DGX) reports revenue growth of 11.78%, ranked against its industry; Medline (MDLN) has no revenue growth figure this period.

Medline (MDLN) at 117.38% clears its industry range for EPS growth, a much stronger earnings trajectory than Quest Diagnostics (DGX) at 13.78%, which is closer to a typical peer reading.

Growth Metrics

Financial Strength

Quest Diagnostics (DGX) at 1.70 keeps current ratio within its industry’s typical mid-range, while Medline (MDLN) at 4.04 sits above its industry’s typical mid-range — comfortable liquidity, though possibly with more idle current assets relative to peers.

Both Quest Diagnostics (DGX) at 0.80 and Medline (MDLN) at 0.65 fund their balance sheets with roughly industry-typical debt-to-equity mixes.

Financial Strength Metrics

Dividends

Medline (MDLN) pays no dividend (yield 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile Quest Diagnostics (DGX) reports a yield of 1.33%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Medline (MDLN) pays no dividend (payout 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile Quest Diagnostics (DGX) reports a payout of 25.10%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Dividend Metrics

Valuation

Quest Diagnostics (DGX) at 25.46 is near its industry’s usual P/E ratio, while Medline (MDLN) at 90.09 sits above its peer range — an unusually expensive price for MDLN’s trailing earnings.

On P/S ratio, both Quest Diagnostics (DGX) at 2.38 and Medline (MDLN) at 1.70 are priced roughly in line with their industries — neither looks cheap nor rich on a sales basis.

On P/B ratio, both Quest Diagnostics (DGX) at 3.68 and Medline (MDLN) at 2.95 are valued close to their industries’ norm against book — neither stands out from peers.

Valuation Metrics