Stocks · Healthcare · Medical - Distribution
Cardinal Health, Inc. CAH
$228.30 -0.78% Close, Oct 2, 2026 · NYSE · Market cap $53.47B
Inexpensive vs sectorLow risk
Next earnings report: Nov 5, 2026
Scroll or pinch to zoom, drag to move. Daily prices adjusted for splits. Markers: E = earnings (green beat, red miss), S = split, D = dividend.
Three things to know
- Earnings beat analyst estimates in each of the last 14 quarters (average surprise over the last four: +15.8%).
- The stock is in an uptrend: above its 200-day average for 98 trading days, with the 50-day average above the 200-day.
- Revenue over the last four quarters was $254.25B, up 14.2% from a year earlier.
PromtFinance scores
Each score is a percentile within the Healthcare sector (0–100). Under each score: how the stock ranks in its sector on every component. As of Oct 5, 2026.
Growth73Positive
How fast revenue, earnings and cash flow are growing.
- Revenue growth (TTM, YoY)Top 41%
- EPS growth (TTM, YoY)Top 47%
- FCF growth (TTM, YoY)Top 11%
- Revenue growth, 3-year CAGRBottom 42%
- Revenue growth accelerationTop 32%
Quality79Positive
Returns on capital, margins, earnings quality and balance-sheet strength.
- Return on invested capitalTop 10%
- Gross marginBottom 9%
- Operating marginTop 41%
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Top 10%
- Accruals (lower is better)Bottom 47%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 47%
- Interest coverTop 20%
Value88Strong
How cheap the shares are relative to earnings, cash flow and their own history.
- Earnings yieldTop 17%
- Free-cash-flow yieldTop 9%
- EBITDA / enterprise valueTop 20%
- Sales / enterprise valueTop 1%
- P/E vs own 5-year history (lower is better)Bottom 35%
Momentum70Positive
Strength and persistence of the price trend, including versus the S&P 500.
- 12-month return excluding last monthTop 31%
- 6-month returnTop 50%
- 1-year return vs S&P 500Top 29%
- Distance from 52-week highTop 19%
- Trend checklist (0–4)Top 39%
Revisions59Neutral
Earnings surprises and analyst sentiment (estimate-revision history is being collected).
- Average EPS surprise, last 4 quartersTop 29%
- Consecutive EPS beatsTop 2%
- Share of analysts rating BuyBottom 20%
- Upside to consensus price targetBottom 27%
Stability97Exceptional
Low volatility, shallow drawdowns, low market sensitivity and modest leverage.
- Volatility, 60 days (lower is better)Top 3%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 yearsTop 1%
- Beta vs S&P 500 (lower is better)Top 9%
- Net debt / EBITDA (lower is better)Bottom 47%
What changed
Latest four quarters versus the same period a year earlier (growth: versus one quarter earlier).
| Measure | Before | Now | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (YoY) | 12.8% | 14.2% | ↑ |
| EPS growth (YoY) | 2.0% | 12.1% | ↑ |
| Gross margin | 3.7% | 3.8% | ↑ |
| Operating margin | 1.0% | 1.0% | ↑ |
| FCF margin | 0.8% | 1.8% | ↑ |
Fundamental momentum
| Measure | Now (TTM) | Year / quarter before | Sector rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue growth (TTM, YoY) | 14.2% | 12.8% | ↑ | Top 41% |
| EPS growth (TTM, YoY) | 12.1% | 2.0% | ↑ | Top 47% |
| Gross margin | 3.8% | 3.7% | ↑ | Bottom 9% |
| Operating margin | 1.0% | 1.0% | ↑ | Top 41% |
| Net margin | 0.7% | 0.7% | ↓ | — |
| Free-cash-flow margin | 1.8% | 0.8% | ↑ | — |
| Return on invested capital | 13.2% | — | Top 10% | |
| Revenue growth, 3-year CAGR | 7.4% | — | Bottom 42% |
Quality of earnings and balance sheet
- Cash conversion (OCF / net income)Above 1× means profits are backed by cash.
- 3.00×
- Accruals (net income − OCF) / assetsLower is better; high accruals can signal weaker earnings quality.
- -6.0%
- Stock-based compensation / revenueA cost to shareholders through dilution.
- 0.1%
- Receivables growth vs revenue growthReceivables growing much faster than sales can be a warning.
- -9.9 pp
- Net debt / EBITDABelow 1× is conservative; above 3× is high leverage.
- 1.46×
- Interest cover (operating income / interest)How many times operating profit covers interest.
- 7.5×
Shareholder returns
- Dividend yield (dividends paid, TTM)
- 0.92%
- Net buyback yield (TTM)
- 2.54%
- Shareholder yield
- 3.46%
- Share count change, 1 year
- -1.2%
- Share count change, 3-year CAGR
- -2.3%
Shareholder yield = dividends + net buybacks over the last four quarters, divided by market cap.
Based on the four quarters through Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 11, 2026).
Earnings and expectations
Earnings momentum
- Consecutive EPS beats
- 14
- Beats in the last 8 reports
- 8 of 8
- Average EPS surprise, last 4
- +15.8%
- Average 2-day reaction, last 8
- +3.1%
- Positive 20 days after report
- 5 of 8
Analysts
- Consensus price target
- $273.22
- Target vs current price
- +19.7%
- Analysts with a rating
- 33
- Share rating Buy or Strong Buy
- 55%
- Consensus rating
- Buy
How the stock reacted to recent reports
| Report date | EPS surprise | 2 days | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 11, 2026 | +20.2% | +1.3% | -0.6% | +1.4% | — |
| Apr 30, 2026 | +13.6% | -4.9% | -5.6% | -1.5% | +13.1% |
| Feb 5, 2026 | +12.4% | +9.8% | +8.4% | +4.4% | -5.6% |
| Oct 30, 2025 | +17.0% | +15.4% | +19.7% | +29.6% | +30.1% |
| Aug 12, 2025 | +2.0% | -7.2% | -5.0% | -4.3% | +23.9% |
| May 1, 2025 | +8.3% | +3.0% | +8.6% | +9.0% | +10.6% |
| Jan 30, 2025 | +10.9% | +0.4% | -0.2% | -0.2% | +7.7% |
| Nov 1, 2024 | +16.0% | +7.0% | +8.9% | +12.6% | +18.2% |
Returns from the close before each report. Past reactions do not determine future ones.
Earnings history
| Report date | EPS | Estimate | Surprise | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 11, 2026 | $2.91 | $2.42 | +20.2% | $63.67B |
| Apr 30, 2026 | $3.17 | $2.79 | +13.6% | $60.94B |
| Feb 5, 2026 | $2.63 | $2.34 | +12.4% | $65.63B |
| Oct 30, 2025 | $2.55 | $2.18 | +17.0% | $64.01B |
| Aug 12, 2025 | $2.08 | $2.04 | +2.0% | $60.16B |
| May 1, 2025 | $2.35 | $2.17 | +8.3% | $54.88B |
| Jan 30, 2025 | $1.93 | $1.74 | +10.9% | $55.26B |
| Nov 1, 2024 | $1.88 | $1.62 | +16.0% | $52.28B |
Valuation in context
| Multiple | Now | 5-year median | 5-year percentile | Sector rank (cheapness) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P/E (trailing) | 31.6× | 29.5× | 59th | Top 17% |
| P/E (forward) | 18.2× | — | — | — |
| EV / EBITDA | 16.8× | — | — | Top 20% |
| EV / Sales | 0.23× | — | — | Top 1% |
| Free-cash-flow yield | 8.46% | — | — | Top 9% |
| Earnings yield | 3.17% | — | — | Top 17% |
P/E over the past five years
Range 12.7× – 185.6× since Jun 30, 2021. Each point: price on the filing date divided by trailing-twelve-month EPS known then.
What moved the stock over the past year
- Price return, 1 year
- +44.6%
- Earnings per share growth (TTM)
- +12.1%
- Change in P/E multiple
- +46.5%
Most of the move came from a change in the valuation multiple.
Technical state
Trend checklist
- ✗ Price above 20-day average
- ✗ Price above 50-day average
- ✓ Price above 200-day average
- ✓ 50-day average above 200-day
- ✓ MACD histogram positive
Trend quality
- Days above the 50-day average
- 0
- Days above the 200-day average
- 98
- 50-day average slope (20 days)
- -0.6%
- 200-day average slope (20 days)
- +1.2%
- Distance from 50-day average
- -1.9%
- Distance from 200-day average
- +4.7%
- RSI (14)
- 48.8
- Relative volume
- 0.99×
Risk and drawdowns
- Volatility, 60 days (annualized)
- 23.5%
- Volatility vs own 5-year history
- 46th percentile · Normal for this stock
- Beta vs S&P 500 (2 years, weekly)
- 0.33
- Correlation with S&P 500
- 0.19
- Current drawdown from 1-year high
- -8.2%
- Maximum drawdown, 3 years
- -20.6%
Largest declines in the past six years
| From peak | To low | Decline | Length | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 29, 2021 | Dec 1, 2021 | -26.6% | 172 days | 91 days (Apr 12, 2022) |
| Apr 20, 2022 | Jun 16, 2022 | -20.9% | 40 days | 38 days (Aug 11, 2022) |
| Mar 2, 2026 | May 11, 2026 | -20.6% | 49 days | 30 days (Jun 24, 2026) |
| Mar 12, 2024 | Jul 15, 2024 | -18.9% | 85 days | 78 days (Nov 1, 2024) |
| Nov 7, 2022 | Mar 23, 2023 | -14.8% | 93 days | 21 days (Apr 24, 2023) |
Declines of 10% or more from a closing high, measured on daily closes.
Financial statements
- Market cap
- $53.47B
- P/E (TTM)
- 31.6
- EPS, diluted (TTM)
- $7.23
- Revenue (TTM)
- $254.25B
- Dividend yield
- 0.90%
- 52-week range
- $150.78 – $258.30
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $181.33B | $204.98B | $226.83B | $222.58B | $254.25B |
| Gross profit | $6.48B | $6.89B | $7.41B | $8.17B | $9.77B |
| Operating income | -$607.0M | $752.0M | $1.24B | $2.27B | $2.61B |
| Net income | -$938.0M | $330.0M | $852.0M | $1.56B | $1.71B |
| EPS (diluted) | -$3.34 | $1.26 | $3.45 | $6.45 | $7.23 |
| Q1 2025 | Q2 2025 | Q3 2025 | Q4 2025 | Q1 2026 | Q2 2026 | Q3 2026 | Q4 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $52.28B | $55.26B | $54.88B | $60.16B | $64.01B | $65.44B | $60.94B | $63.86B |
| Net income | $416.0M | $400.0M | $506.0M | $239.0M | $450.0M | $471.0M | $399.0M | $394.0M |
| EPS (diluted) | $1.70 | $1.65 | $2.10 | $1.00 | $1.88 | $1.97 | $1.69 | $1.69 |
| FY 2022 | FY 2023 | FY 2024 | FY 2025 | FY 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating cash flow | $3.12B | $2.84B | $3.76B | $2.40B | $5.17B |
| Capital expenditure | -$387.0M | -$481.0M | -$511.0M | -$547.0M | -$649.0M |
| Free cash flow | $2.73B | $2.36B | $3.25B | $1.85B | $4.53B |
| Dividends paid | -$559.0M | -$525.0M | -$499.0M | -$494.0M | -$491.0M |
| Net share buybacks | -$1.00B | -$2.00B | -$750.0M | -$765.0M | -$1.36B |
Cash outflows are shown as negative numbers.
- Cash and short-term investments
- $4.86B
- Total assets
- $57.30B
- Total liabilities
- $60.02B
- Total debt
- $9.95B
- Net debt
- $5.09B
- Shareholders’ equity
- -$2.88B
As of Jun 30, 2026 (filed Aug 11, 2026).
Dividends
| Ex-date | Amount | Paid |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | $0.52 | Oct 15, 2026 |
| Jul 1, 2026 | $0.52 | Jul 15, 2026 |
| Apr 1, 2026 | $0.51 | Apr 15, 2026 |
| Jan 2, 2026 | $0.51 | Jan 15, 2026 |
| Oct 1, 2025 | $0.51 | Oct 15, 2025 |
| Jul 1, 2025 | $0.51 | Jul 15, 2025 |
| Apr 1, 2025 | $0.51 | Apr 15, 2025 |
| Jan 2, 2025 | $0.51 | Jan 15, 2025 |
Short interest
- Shares sold short
- 6,668,906
- Days to cover
- 4.58
- Change vs previous report
- -0.7%
FINRA short interest, settlement date Sep 15, 2026.
Stock splits
- Apr 23, 2001
- 3-for-2
- Nov 2, 1998
- 3-for-2
- Dec 17, 1996
- 3-for-2
- Jul 1, 1994
- 5-for-4
- Oct 1, 1991
- 5-for-4