Several investment firms have updated their stock ratings and price targets on shares of Laboratory Corp. of America (NYSE: LH) in the last week:

  • Laboratory Corp. of America had its price target lowered by analysts at Canaccord Genuity to $97.00. They wrote, “Although pressures remain, we reiterate our BUY rating as we think LH is the best-of-breed, low-cost lab provider with strong cash flow. We believe LH is growing faster than its competitors, and our survey checks suggest LH should benefit from an uptick in lab utilization next year. … We lower our price target to $97 (from $100), and assume that LH trades at ~13x our revised 2013 adj. EPS estimate of $7.43 (previously $7.50). LH has historically traded at ~14x EPS.”
  • Laboratory Corp. of America was downgraded by analysts at Macquarie from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating.
  • Laboratory Corp. of America had its price target lowered by analysts at Mizuho from $95.00 to $93.00. They now have a “neutral” rating on the stock.
  • Laboratory Corp. of America was downgraded by analysts at Davenport to a “neutral” rating.
  • Laboratory Corp. of America had its “sector perform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at RBC Capital. They now have a $88.00 price target on the stock.
  • Laboratory Corp. of America had its “neutral” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Zacks. They now have a $93.00 price target on the stock. Zacks‘ analyst wrote, “LabCorp reported a mixed third quarter of 2012 with adjusted EPS of $1.76 surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.74 while revenues of $1,419.4 million fell short. The company witnessed a mere 1.4% growth in testing volume, while revenue per requisition dropped 0.3%, the latter being affected by the recent Medtox acquisition and challenges in histology. Given the current low-volume-growth environment, LabCorp narrowed its outlook for 2012. Meanwhile, the company believes that it can generate 45% of revenues from esoteric testing over the next 3-5 years from the current level of 40%. The company is quite well capitalized and rewards shareholders through share buybacks. We reiterate our Neutral recommendation on the company.”
  • Laboratory Corp. of America had its “hold” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Jefferies Group. They now have a $90.00 price target on the stock.

Shares of Laboratory Corp. of America opened at 85.22 on Thursday. Laboratory Corp. of America has a one year low of $79.01 and a one year high of $95.30. The company has a market cap of $8.249 billion and a P/E ratio of 14.04.

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings is a clinical laboratory company. As of December 31, 2011, it had a national network of 54 primary laboratories and over 1,700 patient service centers (PSCs) along with a network of branches and STAT laboratories (which are laboratories that have the ability to perform certain routine tests quickly and report the results to the physician immediately).