Labcorp Raises 2026 Outlook After Faster Revenue Growth

The Tip Desk · November 1, 2026 · 4 min read

Third-quarter revenue reached $3.81 billion, up 6.9%, and the company lifted full-year adjusted EPS guidance to $18.30–$18.70.

Labcorp Holdings Inc. (LH) raised its full-year 2026 outlook after third-quarter revenue growth accelerated to 6.9%, a step-up from 5.8% in both the first and second quarters of 2026.

The laboratory-services company reported revenue of $3.81 billion for the three months ended September 30, 2026, compared with $3.56 billion a year earlier. Organic growth was 5.5%, acquisitions net of divestitures added 1.5%, and foreign exchange subtracted 0.1%.

Adjusted earnings were $4.78 a share, up 14.5% from $4.18 a year earlier. Diluted earnings were $3.22 a share, up 3.3%.

Adjusted operating income was $570.0 million, and adjusted operating margin expanded 60 basis points to 15.0%. The company said the increase in adjusted operating income and margin was due to organic growth and operating efficiencies. GAAP operating income was $402.1 million, and GAAP operating margin was 10.6%.

Diagnostics Laboratories, the larger reportable segment, generated $2.95 billion of revenue, up 6.5%. Organic growth in that segment was 4.4%, with acquisitions net of divestitures contributing 2.2%. Volume rose 4.8% and price/mix rose 1.7%. Adjusted operating income for Diagnostics was $491.6 million, and adjusted operating margin expanded 40 basis points to 16.7%. The company attributed the Diagnostics margin increase to organic growth and operating efficiencies.

Biopharma Laboratory Services revenue was $866.7 million, up 8.5%, with organic growth of 9.6%. Central Labs revenue grew 11.5% and Early Development revenue grew 0.4%. Adjusted operating income in Biopharma was $159.0 million, and adjusted operating margin expanded 180 basis points to 18.3%. The company said that margin increase was driven by organic growth and operating efficiencies from strategic actions taken in Early Development.

After the quarter, Labcorp updated 2026 enterprise revenue growth guidance to 5.9% to 6.7%, up 50 basis points at the midpoint from the prior 5.4% to 6.3% range. Adjusted EPS guidance moved to $18.30 to $18.70, up 18 cents at the midpoint from $18.10 to $18.55. Free cash flow guidance was left at $1.24 billion to $1.36 billion.

Segment guidance also moved. Biopharma Laboratory Services 2026 revenue growth guidance was raised to 7.4% to 8.4% from 5.5% to 6.5%. Diagnostics Laboratories growth guidance was raised to 5.5% to 6.2% from 5.3% to 6.0%. The updated enterprise range includes an estimated 0.3% impact from foreign-currency translation; the updated Biopharma range includes a 1.3% foreign-currency impact.

Operating cash flow was $563.8 million in the third quarter, and free cash flow was $412.2 million. The company said the increase in free cash flow was primarily driven by improvement in working capital, partially offset by planned increases in capital expenditures. Capital expenditures were $151.6 million.

The company invested $255.5 million in acquisitions and paid $58.2 million in dividends in the quarter. Cash and cash equivalents were $261.8 million at quarter-end, and total debt was $5.85 billion. Remaining share-repurchase authorization was $1.4 billion. On October 21, 2026, Labcorp announced a quarterly cash dividend of $0.72 a share, payable December 11, 2026.

Labcorp said it advanced its M&A strategy by announcing or closing four transactions in the quarter, including the acquisition of MLM Medical Labs, a central and specialty laboratory provider with operations in the United States, Germany and South Africa. Each of those deals is expected to be accretive to adjusted EPS in year one and to return cost of capital by year three. Subsequent to quarter-end, the company signed agreements to acquire select BioReference Health laboratory assets, Myriad Genetics’ Prenatal Health testing business, and Millennium Health, an accredited specialty laboratory focused on drug testing and surveillance.

The company also received FDA approval of PGDx elio tissue complete CDx as a companion diagnostic to help identify patients with advanced melanoma. Subsequent to the quarter, it launched the FDA-cleared Elecsys pTau-217 blood test for Alzheimer’s disease and announced a collaboration with Waters Corporation to offer the FDA-approved BD Onclarity HPV assay.