Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings' 2Q Results: Postgame Scorecard

Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings' (NYSE:LH) net income increased in the second quarter.

Earnings and Revenue The company fell short of estimates with adjusted net income of $1.77 a share and revenues of $1.42 billion. Analysts were expecting adjusted net income of $1.78 a share and revenues of $1.44 billion. The estimates of 17 analysts ranged from profit of $1.66 to profit of $1.82.

The company's net income for the quarter was $153.3 million. This is 24.7% higher than the year-ago quarter. Revenue climbed 1.4% from $1.4 billion in the same period last year.

Company Fundamental Trends Last quarter marked the third in a row of rising net income. The company's revenue has grown during at least each of the past four quarters on a year-over-year basis.

History Against Expectations The company missed forecasts after topping estimates in the previous two quarters. In the first quarter, it topped the mark by 6 cents, and in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year, it was ahead by 4 cents.

Official Comment: "We delivered a solid quarter given that we continue to face a low-volume-growth environment," said David P. King, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We continued to build for the future as we received clearance to proceed with our acquisition of MEDTOX Scientific, Inc., which will broaden our expertise in esoteric toxicology testing. At the same time we achieved earnings growth through disciplined expense management, particularly in selling, general and administrative expenses."

Estimates provided by Zacks Investment Research and company fundamentals from Xignite Financials.