Labcorp Holdings Inc.
Orin's own judgment of how firmly the evidence points one way — not the chance the price goes up.
Labcorp's fundamental recovery remains intact heading into Q3 2026 earnings on October 28, with FY2025 revenue of $13.95B growing 7.3% YoY, operating margin expanding to 10.9% from 8.4%, and the company beating EPS estimates in each of the last eight quarters including a 4.4% surprise in the most recent report.
The stock trades at a 13.9% P/E discount and 22.0% EV/EBITDA discount to peer medians as of the latest close of $312.15, while the CMS Medicare lab-payment selloff appears overdone given the proposed cuts are capped at 15% annually with final rates still pending. The technical setup shows the stock above its 200-day MA of $281.78 with RSI at a neutral 47.6 and MACD histogram turning positive, suggesting the post-CMS pullback has found a floor. Insider net selling of approximately $20.8M over 24 months and a slightly negative smart money score of -0.04 as of Q2 2026 temper enthusiasm, but the combination of valuation, earnings momentum, and an overblown regulatory reaction supports accumulation at current levels.
What could go wrong
- CMS reimbursement cuts. Proposed 2027 Medicare lab-payment reductions targeting $1B in annual savings could pressure diagnostics revenue and margins if finalized at the full 15% cap, with final rates still pending.
- Insider selling pattern. Over the trailing 24 months, insiders executed 33 dispositions with net share sales of approximately 76,270 shares and net value outflow of $20.76M, including CEO Schechter selling 4,669 shares at $320.37 on August 11, 2026.
- Smart money outflows. The smart money score turned slightly negative at -0.04 as of Q2 2026, down from +0.06 in Q1 2026, indicating institutional positioning has softened.
- Margin compression risk. Gross margin has declined from 38.0% in FY2021 to 26.8% in FY2025, and while operating margin is recovering, reimbursement pressure and cost inflation could reverse the trend.
What would change my mind
Where this comes from: FY25 fundamentals · earnings vs estimates · peer comparison · technicals, 9 Oct. Orin's read on LH; not advice.
How has the share price moved?
Up 20.1% over twelve months, from $275.66 on 27 Oct 2025 to $331.17 at the Tue 27 Oct 2026 close. Its highest close in that time was $339.34 on 24 Aug 2026; the last close is 2.4% below it.
- Green line: the closing price each trading day.
- Grey line: the average closing price over the last 50 trading days.
- Dashed amber line: the same over the last 200 trading days — a slower, smoother line.
- Bars along the bottom: shares traded each day — green when it closed higher than the day before, rose when lower (the most, 2.2M, on 28 Oct 2025).
- Flags: the company's filings, on the day they were made (a 10-Q is the quarterly report and a 10-K the annual report; an 8-K reports a major event).
On file
All LH filingsLargest holders · 13F Q2 2026
Money flow| Filer | Position | Of fund |
|---|---|---|
| BlackRock | $1.8B | 0.0% |
| Vanguard Capital Management | $1.5B | 0.0% |
| State Street | $1.1B | 0.0% |
| Vanguard Portfolio Management | $1.0B | 0.0% |
| Geode Capital Management | $610.4M | 0.0% |
| Select Equity Group | $554.9M | 2.7% |
| FMR | $533.4M | 0.0% |
| Morgan Stanley | $450.6M | 0.0% |
| JPMorgan Chase | $354.6M | 0.0% |
| Invesco | $346.5M | 0.0% |
90 of the 815 filers we track · quarter ended Q2 2026 · positions, not flows
Insiders, last 24 months: 261 Form 4 filings; open-market trades net −$20.8M. Of the 50 on hand, 0 were open-market purchases and 11 sales — the rest are grants, option exercises and tax withholding.
Ask Orin about LH
Orin answers questions about LH from its filings, transcripts and numbers — with the source behind every claim. Your own desk starts with 3 free days, card required.
Start 3 free days →How is it priced, against its own past and its sector?
Priced at 27.2× its last 12 months of profit (Tue 27 Oct close) — higher than in 4 of its last 5 fiscal years (middle 23.8×); the typical Healthcare company on the NYSE is at 25.8×.
| Measure | Now | Its usual | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| P/E | 27.2×above usual | 23.8× | 25.8× |
| P/S | 1.87×above usual | 1.55× | — |
| EV/EBITDA | 15.6×above usual | 13.7× | — |
| P/B | 3.1×above usual | 2.4× | — |
- "Its usual" is the middle of its own last 5 fiscal years.
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
P/S: the company's total market value divided by one year of revenue. Used when there is no profit to measure.
EV/EBITDA: the price of the whole company (its shares plus its debt, minus its cash) divided by one year of operating profit before interest, tax and write-downs.
P/B: the share price divided by the book value per share — what the company owns minus what it owes, as its accounts record it. When book value is tiny, P/B swings wildly and says little.
What do the analysts who cover it publish?
The analysts' average 12-month price target is $347 (from $306 to $380) — 5% above the Tue 27 Oct close price. That is their published opinion, not Orin's.
$347
$306 – $380 · +5% against the last close
- 8 buy or overweight
- 2 hold
- 0 underweight or sell
Price target: the share price an analyst publishes for about 12 months ahead. It is the opinion of the firm that wrote it; the average is across the firms that cover the company.
Overweight / underweight: analysts' rating words: overweight means the firm expects the stock to do better than the others it covers, underweight worse. Their words, not Orin's.
How is it priced next to the companies it is compared to?
Priced at 27.2× its last 12 months of profit. Only 2 of the 2 companies it is compared to made a profit (DGX 23.8×, TMO 36.5×), so there is no typical P/E.
| Company | Market value | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross margin | Net margin | ROE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LHLabcorp Holdings Inc. | $27B | 27.2× | 15.6× | 27.8% | 7.0% | 12% |
| DGXQuest Diagnostics Incorporated | $27B | 23.8× | 14.0× | 33.1% | 9.5% | 15% |
| TMOThermo Fisher Scientific Inc. | $256B | 36.5× | 26.0× | 41.4% | 15.0% | 13% |
- The list of companies is the data vendor's choice, so it can include a company a person would not have picked.
Market value: the share price times the number of shares — what the whole company is priced at.
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
EV/EBITDA: the price of the whole company (its shares plus its debt, minus its cash) divided by one year of operating profit before interest, tax and write-downs.
Gross margin: the share of each $1 of sales left after the direct cost of making what was sold.
Net margin: the share of each $1 of sales kept as profit after every cost. Below zero, the company lost money.
ROE: return on equity: one year of profit as a share of the shareholders' money in the business (its book value).
Is it priced high or low compared with its own past?
Priced at 27.2× its last 12 months of profit (Tue 27 Oct close). It has no full fiscal year on file since its history starts, so there is nothing of its own to compare with.
- Now27.2×
P/E: the share price divided by one year of profit per share — roughly how many years of today's profit the price pays for. A company that loses money has no P/E.
Fiscal year (FY): the company's own 12-month accounting year, which need not match the calendar year.
How has its sector been priced?
Healthcare companies on the NYSE were priced at a typical 25.8× their yearly profit (Tue 27 Oct close).
- Now25.8×
- Each year is the middle of that calendar year's daily sector P/E; "Now" is the Tue 27 Oct close figure, the same one in the table above.
Sector P/E: the middle P/E of the companies in the same sector on the same stock exchange, as the data vendor works it out each day.
What does a cash-flow model say a share is worth?
A standard cash-flow model puts it at $315 a share — 4% below the $328.49 price it was computed against (27 Oct).
| Model | Value a share | Against the price then |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | $315 | 4% below $328.49 |
| Levered | $339 | 3% above $328.49 |
Discounted cash flow: a model's estimate of what the company is worth today, from the cash it is forecast to make in future years. Small changes in the forecast move it a lot, and it says little about a company that loses money.
Standard / levered: two versions of the cash-flow model: the standard one counts the cash before the company pays its lenders, the levered one after.