Quest Diagnostics vs SpaceX: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Quest Diagnostics reported $11B of revenue in FY2025 and $992M of net income. SpaceX reported $18.7B of revenue in FY2025 and a net loss of $4.9B.
Latest financial snapshot
Quest Diagnostics
- Latest revenue
- $11B (FY2025)
- Net income
- $992M
- Net margin
- 9.0%
- Revenue growth
- +4.8% a year, FY2016–FY2025
SpaceX
- Latest revenue
- $18.7B (FY2025)
- Net income
- -$4.9B
- Net margin
- -26.4%
- Revenue growth
- +34.1% a year, FY2023–FY2025
Financial summary
Quest Diagnostics
Quest's results follow three phases. Before the pandemic, revenue grew slowly, from $7.21B in 2016 to $7.73B in 2019. COVID-19 testing then lifted revenue to $10.79B and net income to $1.995B in 2021. Revenue fell back to $9.25B in 2023 as that demand faded. Acquisitions and organic volume restarted growth: revenue reached $9.87B in 2024 and $11.035B in 2025, when operating income was $1.556B and operating cash flow was $1.886B. In the first half of 2026, revenue rose 9.7% to $5.938B and net income attributable to Quest rose 13.9% to $572M. Quest raised its quarterly dividend 7.5% to $0.86 per share in 2026.
SpaceX
SpaceX revenue grew from $10.387 billion in 2023 to $14.015 billion in 2024 and $18.674 billion in 2025, but heavy Starship, Starlink, and AI spending produced a $4.937 billion FY2025 net loss. In Q2 2026, its first quarter reported as a public company, revenue was $7.8 billion (up 92%), adjusted EBITDA was $3.5 billion, net loss was $541 million, and backlog was $47.5 billion. The IPO raised $85.7 billion and a $25 billion bond sale added more liquidity. In late September 2026 the stock traded near $145, for a market capitalization around $1.9 trillion.
Revenue and profit by year
Quest Diagnostics
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $11B | $992M | 9.0% | +11.8% | Source |
| FY2024 | $9.9B | $871M | 8.8% | +6.7% | Source |
| FY2023 | $9.3B | $854M | 9.2% | -6.4% | Source |
| FY2022 | $9.9B | $946M | 9.6% | -8.4% | Source |
| FY2021 | $10.8B | $2B | 18.5% | +14.3% | Source |
| FY2020 | $9.4B | $1.4B | 15.2% | +22.1% | Source |
| FY2019 | $7.7B | $858M | 11.1% | +2.6% | Source |
| FY2018 | $7.5B | $736M | 9.8% | +1.7% | Source |
| FY2017 | $7.4B | $772M | 10.4% | +2.6% | Source |
| FY2016 | $7.2B | $645M | 8.9% | — | Source |
SpaceX
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $18.7B | -$4.9B | -26.4% | +33.2% | Source |
| FY2024 | $14B | $18M | 0.1% | +34.9% | Source |
| FY2023 | $10.4B | -$4.6B | -44.6% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
Quest Diagnostics
- Diagnostic Information Services - Routine Clinical Testing~60-65%
High-volume routine clinical chemistry, hematology, urinalysis, and basic microbiology tests performed for physicians, hospitals, and other healthcare providers. These tests have lower margins but provide the volume base that drives operating leverage. Reimbursed primarily through Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance.
- Diagnostic Information Services - Advanced Diagnostics~20-25%
Higher-margin specialized testing including oncology (Haystack MRD, molecular profiling), neurology (AD-Detect Alzheimer's tests), genomics (Blueprint Genetics), advanced cardiometabolic panels, infectious disease testing, and women's health/prenatal genetics. These tests command premium pricing and represent the primary growth vector.
- Diagnostic Information Services - Hospital Outreach and Health System Partnerships~10-15%
Laboratory services provided under partnership arrangements with hospital systems, including acquired outreach operations (NewYork-Presbyterian, Memorial Hermann, Hackensack Meridian, Mercy, Steward) and joint ventures (Sonora Quest with Banner Health). These partnerships provide captive patient volumes and institutional credibility.
- Consumer-Initiated Testing and Retail Partnerships~2-3%
Direct-to-consumer testing through QuestDirect, questhealth.com, and retail partnerships with Walmart, Safeway, and CVS. Includes wellness panels, genetic tests, hormone assessments, and specialized health screenings. Generates direct patient payments at list price with the highest margins in the portfolio.
- Pharmaceutical Services and Corporate~1-2%
Clinical trials testing support for pharmaceutical companies, research collaborations, and corporate activities. Includes testing for drug development, companion diagnostics, and post-market surveillance.
SpaceX
- Launch services
Not formally reported
Commercial, civil, and national-security launches priced by rocket, payload, orbit, and service type.
- Starlink consumer broadband
Not formally reported
Monthly subscriptions and terminals for residential and mobile broadband.
- Enterprise and government connectivity
Not formally reported
Starlink enterprise, aviation, maritime, backup connectivity, Starshield, and government services.
- AI infrastructure
Not formally reported
Compute and cloud services from SpaceX's AI segment, formed through the xAI combination; $2.6B revenue in Q2 2026.
Business model and strategy
Quest Diagnostics
How it makes money
Quest Diagnostics earns fee-for-service revenue for lab tests ordered by physicians, hospitals, health plans, employers and consumers. Diagnostic Information Services (DIS) produced $2.978B of the company's $3.043B Q2 2026 revenue. Payment comes from commercial insurers, Medicare and Medicaid, hospitals that send it outreach or reference work, employers, and patients paying directly through questhealth.com.
Growth strategy
Quest is growing in four ways. First, it buys hospital outreach labs and signs Co-Lab Solutions lab-management deals, such as its Corewell Health joint venture in Michigan. Second, it adds large partner volume, such as dialysis testing for Fresenius Medical Care.
Competitive advantage
Quest's main advantage is density. It has a national patient service center footprint, in-network contracts with most major U.S. health plans, EHR connections to physician offices, and regional labs that spread fixed costs across hundreds of millions of tests a year. Only Labcorp operates at comparable U.S. scale. That scale lets Quest offer health systems a lower-cost option for outreach testing.
SpaceX
How it makes money
SpaceX earns money in three segments. Space sells launches on Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, plus Dragon cargo and crew missions for NASA, the U.S. government, and commercial customers ($962 million in Q2 2026).
Growth strategy
SpaceX's growth plan has four parts: add Starlink subscribers and raise enterprise, aviation, and mobile revenue; launch higher-capacity Starlink V3 satellites on Starship; expand national-security work through Starshield and launch contracts (over $6 billion in U.S. government awards in Q2 2026); and scale AI compute capacity, which grew from 400 megawatts a year earlier to 1.4 gigawatts at the end of Q2 2026.
Competitive advantage
SpaceX's advantage is reusability combined with vertical integration. It builds its own engines, avionics, rockets, and satellites, and reflies Falcon 9 boosters many times, which lowers its marginal launch cost below rivals that still expend most hardware. Being its own largest launch customer lets it deploy Starlink at a cadence no other operator has matched, and Starlink revenue then funds Starship.
Questions about Quest Diagnostics vs SpaceX
Which company has higher revenue — Quest Diagnostics Incorporated or SpaceX?
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated reported $11.0B (FY2025), while SpaceX reported $18.7B (FY2025). By last reported revenue, SpaceX is the larger business, with Quest Diagnostics Incorporated reporting a smaller revenue base.
What is the market cap of Quest Diagnostics Incorporated vs SpaceX?
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated's market capitalisation stands at $27.2B, while SpaceX's is $1.92T. SpaceX carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to Quest Diagnostics Incorporated.
Which is more financially efficient — Quest Diagnostics Incorporated or SpaceX?
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated generates $194k / employee in revenue per employee, while SpaceX generates $826k / employee. SpaceX shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and SpaceX make money?
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated and SpaceX generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Quest Diagnostics Incorporated: Quest Diagnostics earns fee-for-service revenue for lab tests ordered by physicians, hospitals, health plans, employers and consumers. SpaceX: SpaceX earns money in three segments.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — Quest Diagnostics Incorporated or SpaceX?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, Quest Diagnostics Incorporated trades at 2.5x P/S and SpaceX at 102.8x P/S. SpaceX commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Quest Diagnostics Incorporated. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is Quest Diagnostics Incorporated bigger than SpaceX?
By last reported revenue, SpaceX ($18.7B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to Quest Diagnostics Incorporated ($11.0B (FY2025)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Quest Diagnostics vs SpaceX overview