Is Quest Diagnostics (DGX) A Great Investment Choice?

Davis Funds, an investment management firm, published its “Davis Opportunity Fund” fourth-quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. For the year ended December 31, 2021, Davis Opportunity Fund delivered a return of 24.96%, reflecting real progress in the underlying business fundamentals across most of its holdings. Spare some time to check the fund’s top 5 holdings to have a clue about their top bets for 2022.

Davis Opportunity Fund, in its Q4 2021 investor letter, mentioned Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) and discussed its stance on the firm. Founded in 1967, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) is a Secaucus, New Jersey-based clinical laboratory company with a $17.3 billion market capitalization, and is currently spearheaded by its CEO, Steve Rusckowski. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) delivered a -16.10% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by 15.87%. The stock closed at $145.16 per share on March 17, 2022.

Here is what Davis Opportunity Fund has to say about Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in its Q4 2021 investor letter:

“Healthcare is included in the portfolio both for company-specific reasons, as well as big picture trends. At the company level, we hold select companies in pharmaceuticals, healthcare services and health insurance at attractive valuations. This is at a time when the average age of the U.S. population is fast approaching 40, older than Asia-Pacific and a little younger than the aged populations of Europe and Japan. The number of seniors in the U.S.—i.e., 65 years or older— now surpasses 54 million, or about 15% of the population. Seniors, on average, take a much greater number of medications and account for a large and disproportionate share of healthcare spending, and we expect that trend to continue due to both raw demographics and a proliferation in the number of available treatments and services available now, the latter being driven by innovation and investment in the healthcare industry. Representative holdings in the Fund include Cigna, United Health Group, Viatris and Quest Diagnostics.”

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Our calculations show that Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) failed to obtain a mark on our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) was in 32 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, compared to 36 funds in the previous quarter. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) delivered a -15.21% return in the past 3 months.

In December 2021, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on Quest Diagnostics Incorporated (NYSE:DGX) in another article. You can find other letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q4 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.