Cardinal Health Inc (CAH)
Health Care · Health Care Distributors · US stock · S&P 500 component
$255.64
▼ -1.82 (0.71%)
Fair valueOvervalued
$210 −17.9% to fair value
$105fair band $179–$254$315
Day's range
$254.85 – $259.21
52-week range
$157.79 – $259.21
Red flags⚠ Negative equity⚠ Negative equity⚠ Negative equity⚠ Negative equity⚠ Negative equity
About Cardinal Health Inc
Cardinal Health distributes pharmaceuticals and medical products to hospitals, pharmacies and clinics, and manufactures a range of medical and surgical supplies. It also operates nuclear medicine pharmacies and offers services to help providers manage supply chains. The company earns money from small margins on very large volumes of products it distributes, along with fees and sales from its own medical products. Drug pricing and customer contracts affect its results.
The company reported twelve-month revenue of $244.7 billion, which expanded at 7.4% a year across the last three years. It earned an operating margin of 1.0%, and it generated a return on invested capital of 55%. Leverage, measured as net debt to EBITDA, is 1.8 times. The dividend yield is 0.8%. The site's X-Ray Score is 53 out of 100.
Price chart
52-wk range $157.79 – $259.21Volume 1,497,509Daily, split-adjusted
Vitals
Market cap$60.6B
52-week range$157.79 – $259.21
Volume (last day)1,497,509
P/E (TTM)36.9
EBIT / EV yield3.8%
Free-cash-flow yield9.1%
Dividend yield0.8%
Revenue (TTM)$244.7B
Net income (TTM)$1.7B
Operating margin1.0%
Return on capital55.4%
Debt incl. leases$9.0B
Cash & securities$2.8B
Debt = borrowings plus lease liabilities. Cash & securities = cash, equivalents and short-term marketable securities (long-term securities are not counted, so net cash can be understated for companies that hold large long-term investments). Net debt = debt minus cash & securities. Source: latest SEC 10-Q/10-K. EBIT / EV yield = operating profit divided by market cap plus net debt.
Fair value estimate
$210middle half of models $167 – $246
Overvalued
−17.9% to fair value
Average of the 14 valuation models that pass our checks: multiples, discounted cash flow, dividend discount and earnings power value. A model more than 100% above or 60% below the price is left out as unrealistic. Model uncertainty is High, based on how far apart the models are. Undervalued or Overvalued means the gap to fair value is more than 17.5%.
Peak-cycle earnings: the current operating margin is more than 1.5x its 7-year average, so multiples applied to today's profit may overstate value; model uncertainty is set to High
Price $256
Undervalued < $179Fair $179 – $254Overvalued > $254
P/E multiple
$245
P/S multiple
$209
EV/EBITDA multiple
$239
EV/EBIT multiple
$219
EV/revenue multiple
$213
10-year DCF, EBITDA exit
$248
5-year DCF, EBITDA exit
$261
10-year DCF, revenue exit
$246
5-year DCF, revenue exit
$252
10-year DCF, growth exit
$153
5-year DCF, growth exit
$150
Dividend discount, stable
$129
Dividend discount, multi-stage
$241
Earnings power value
$134
Growth the price implies
16.1%/yr
A model estimate, not a price target or recommendation. Inputs: risk-free 5.13%, equity risk premium 4.30% (Damodaran). How it works.
What this means
Average business, priced high
Our models put fair value below today's price, so a lot of good news may already be in the price. A high score does not guarantee a good outcome; it shifts the odds a little. Use the checklist as a prompt for your own research.
Before you invest · decision checklist
Ticked boxes are filled in from our data; the rest are yours to answer.
The five-lens scan
Every score explained in one sentence, ranked against Health Care peers. Open a lens to see the numbers behind it.
Strong: 70 to 100Fair: 50 to 69Weak: under 50No score: not enough data
Valuation
Weak
44/100
Expensive against its sector on earnings and cash flow.
See the numbers →
EBIT / EV yield3.8%
Free-cash-flow yield9.1%
Fair value vs price0.8×
Growth
Fair
69/100
Growing at a typical pace for its sector.
See the numbers →
Revenue growth (3y)7.4%
EPS growth (3y)79.0%
Growth consistency80%
Profitability
Fair
59/100
Returns on capital are typical for its sector.
See the numbers →
Return on invested capital55.4%
Operating margin1.0%
Gross profitability15.6%
Financial health
Weak
47/100
Balance sheet is more stretched than most peers.
See the numbers →
Piotroski F-Score8 / 9
Net debt / EBITDA1.8×
Interest cover8.0×
Dividends
Weak
41/100
Dividend is modest or less certain than peers.
See the numbers →
Dividend yield0.8%
Dividends vs free cash flow9%
Dividend growth-2.2%
Quarterly results: last 6 quarters
-4.3%
Sep '24
-3.8%
Dec '24
+0.0%
Mar '25
+0.5%
Jun '25
+22.4%
Sep '25
+18.8%
Dec '25
Revenue against the same quarter a year earlier. Latest quarter revenue $65.6B.
Compare with peers
MCK Mckesson Corp57 COR Cencora, Inc.52 HSIC Henry Schein Inc42Other Health Care Distributors companies by X-Ray Score.
SWOT analysis: Cardinal Health Inc
Strengthsinside the company
- Return on invested capital is 55.4%, against a median of 18.6% for industry peers.
- Earnings per share have compounded at 79.0% a year over three years.
- Free cash flow equals 9.1% of the market value, which funds dividends, buybacks or debt paydown.
- Passes 8 of the 9 Piotroski tests, which points to improving profitability, funding and efficiency.
Weaknessesinside the company
- Operating margin of 1.0% is thin against 1.6% for industry peers.
Opportunitiesvaluation and setting
- Revenue growth picked up to 14.2% last year from 7.4% a year over three years.
- Price momentum is strong on the weekly and monthly signals (trends can reverse).
Threatsvaluation and setting
- Trades at 36.5x earnings, 46% above the 25.0x median of industry peers, so the price already assumes better results.
- The price is 18% above our fair value estimate, so there is little room for disappointment.
- Valuation uncertainty is high: the models give widely different values, so the fair value range is wide.
- Our checks raised: Negative equity; Negative equity.
Written by fixed rules from the figures on this page and the peer table below: filings, our fair value, the sector climate and the price trend. It summarises the data, it is not a forecast or advice.
Compare CAH with peers and sector
Medians of 3 Health Care Distributors peers and of 59 Health Care stocks in our universe.
Largest peers (X-Ray Score): MCK 57, COR 52, HSIC 42.
| Metric | CAH | Peers | Sector |
|---|---|---|---|
| X-Ray Score (out of 100) | 53 | 52 | 49 |
| Valuation | 44 | 57 | 55 |
| Growth | 69 | 62 | 47 |
| Profitability | 59 | 46 | 49 |
| Financial health | 47 | 40 | 48 |
| Dividends | 41 | – | 52 |
Sector leaders: highest X-Ray Score in Health Care
CAH ranks #26 of 60 in Health Care and #2 of 4 in Health Care Distributors by X-Ray Score. A higher score is stronger on our five pillars; it is a ranking of facts, not a forecast.
Green means better than the peer median, red worse (only where a higher or lower figure is clearly better). A dash means too few companies report the figure. P/E, EV/EBITDA and price changes are not graded: a different level is not good or bad by itself.
Factor ratings for CAH
Each factor is rated by where CAH stands among the 60 Health Care stocks in our universe.
Rating against the sector
Goodthe top third of these stocks
Averagethe middle third of these stocks
Badthe bottom third of these stocks
"Beats" is the share of those stocks it is ahead of.
Against its own history
The last columns set today's figure against the company's own median of its last five financial years:
▲ Betterbetter than its usual level
▼ Worseworse than its usual level
≈ In linewithin its usual range
For valuation factors Good means cheaper than most of the sector and Better means cheaper than usual for this company, which is not the same as a bargain.
In total: 11 Good · 4 Average · 6 Bad of 21
Growth: 2 · 1 · 0
Profitability: 1 · 0 · 3
Financial strength: 1 · 2 · 1
Valuation: 2 · 1 · 1
Cash flow: 3 · 0 · 1
Efficiency: 2 · 0 · 0
| Factor | CAH | Rating | Sector median | Own 5-year median | Against own history |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Growth | |||||
| Revenue growth, 3 years a year | +7.4% | Average beats 59% | +5.5% | – | – |
| Revenue growth, last year | +14.2% | Good beats 86% | +7.1% | +11.6% | ▲ Better |
| EPS growth, 3 years a year | +79.0% | Good beats 95% | +5.0% | – | – |
| Profitability | |||||
| Gross margin | 3.7% | Bad beats 3% | 65.0% | 3.6% | ≈ In line |
| Operating margin | 1.0% | Bad beats 11% | 16.4% | 0.5% | ≈ In line |
| Net margin | 0.7% | Bad beats 9% | 11.1% | 0.4% | ≈ In line |
| Return on invested capital | 55.4% | Good beats 91% | 12.2% | – | – |
| Financial strength | |||||
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.8x | Average beats 56% | 2.0x | 1.1x | ▼ Worse |
| Interest cover | 8.0x | Average beats 43% | 9.4x | 9.0x | ≈ In line |
| Current ratio | 0.91 | Bad beats 14% | 1.52 | 0.98 | ≈ In line |
| Piotroski F-score | 8 / 9 | Good beats 85% | 6 / 9 | – | – |
| Valuation | |||||
| P/E ratio | 36.5x | Bad beats 33% | 28.2x | 30.7x | ▼ Worse |
| Price / sales | 0.2x | Good beats 96% | 3.7x | 0.1x | ≈ In line |
| EV / EBITDA | 19.6x | Average beats 39% | 17.6x | 16.9x | ▼ Worse |
| Free cash flow yield | 9.1% | Good beats 91% | 4.4% | 9.5% | ≈ In line |
| Cash flow | |||||
| Free cash flow margin | 2.2% | Bad beats 10% | 16.3% | 1.4% | ≈ In line |
| Cash from operations / net income | 3.67 | Good beats 95% | 1.61 | 3.72 | ≈ In line |
| Free cash flow growth, 3 years a year | +24.2% | Good beats 81% | +4.3% | – | – |
| Accruals (lower is better) | −7.6% | Good beats 81% | −3.9% | – | – |
| Efficiency | |||||
| Inventory turnover | 11.7x | Good beats 85% | 2.9x | 12.7x | ≈ In line |
| Days sales outstanding | 20 days | Good beats 94% | 62 days | 20 days | ≈ In line |
These ratings compare companies with each other and describe the past; they are not a forecast, a recommendation or part of the X-Ray Score. A factor is left out when its data is missing or meaningless (for example a P/E on negative earnings). A dash in the history columns means fewer than three usable years.
Fundamentals checklist
● 6 Good · ● 4 Average · ● 6 BadCash quality
Earnings backed by cashGood
Free-cash-flow yieldGood
Risk models
Altman Z''Bad
Piotroski F-ScoreGood
Growth
EPS growth (3y)Good
Free-cash-flow growth (3y)Good
Revenue growth (3y)Average
Growth consistencyBad
Balance sheet
Current ratioBad
Net debt / EBITDAAverage
Interest coverAverage
Valuation
Fair value vs priceBad
EBIT / EV yieldAverage
Profitability
Return on invested capitalGood
Operating marginBad
Gross profitabilityBad
Each check is graded against the company's sector, not a fixed number. Checklist score 50/100.
Financials
| FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 | FY26 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $181.3B | $205.0B | $226.8B | $222.6B | $254.2B |
| Operating income | −$607M | $752M | $1.2B | $2.3B | $2.6B |
| Net income | −$938M | $330M | $852M | $1.6B | $1.7B |
| Operating cash flow | $3.2B | $2.8B | $3.8B | $2.4B | $5.2B |
| Operating margin | -0.3% | 0.4% | 0.5% | 1.0% | 1.0% |
| Free cash flow | $2.8B | $2.4B | $3.3B | $1.9B | $4.5B |
| Diluted EPS | $-3.37 | $1.26 | $3.45 | $6.45 | $7.23 |
Fiscal years, from SEC filings.
Technical summary
Daily
Bullish
12 bullish · 0 neutral · 4 bearish
Weekly
Strongly bullish
11 bullish · 1 neutral · 0 bearish
Monthly
Strongly bullish
7 bullish · 0 neutral · 1 bearish
Moving averages (daily)
| SMA 10 | 249.4 | Bullish |
| EMA 10 | 249.9 | Bullish |
| SMA 20 | 238.8 | Bullish |
| EMA 20 | 243.5 | Bullish |
| SMA 50 | 235.5 | Bullish |
| EMA 50 | 236.6 | Bullish |
| SMA 100 | 231.3 | Bullish |
| EMA 100 | 230.1 | Bullish |
| SMA 200 | 220.0 | Bullish |
| EMA 200 | 217.7 | Bullish |
Oscillators (daily)
| RSI (14) | 71.17 | Bearish |
| MACD (12, 26) | 6.96 | Bullish |
| Momentum (12) | 9.51 | Bullish |
| Stochastic %K (14) | 88.34 | Bearish |
| Williams %R (14) | -11.66 | Bearish |
| CCI (20) | 115.0 | Bearish |
Pivot points (classic, last session)
S3 249.6 | S2 252.2 | S1 253.9 | Pivot 256.6 | R1 258.3 | R2 260.9 | R3 262.7 |
Signals describe what the chart is doing, not what to do. Moving averages: price above the average is bullish. Oscillators use the usual thresholds (RSI 30/70, Stochastic 20/80, CCI ±100, Williams %R −80/−20; MACD and momentum above zero are bullish). Weekly and monthly views use closing prices only.
Dividends
Paid, last 12 months
2.05 USD
Yield on today's price
0.80%
Frequency
Quarterly
Next ex-dividend date
Not announced
| Ex-dividend date | Amount per share |
|---|---|
| 0.5160 | |
| 0.5160 | |
| 0.5110 | |
| 0.5110 | |
| 0.5110 | |
| 0.5110 | |
| 0.5060 | |
| 0.5060 | |
| 0.5060 | |
| 0.5060 | |
| 0.5010 | |
| 0.5010 |
Ex-dividend dates and amounts from EODHD. Shown as declared, before tax.
ETFs that hold CAH
| ETF | Share of the fund |
|---|---|
| IYK iShares US Consumer Staples | 2.45% |
| VFLO VictoryShares Free Cash Flow | 1.55% |
| NULV Nuveen ESG Large-Cap Value | 1.53% |
| PWV Invesco Dynamic Large Cap Value | 1.52% |
| KNG FT Cboe Vest S&P 500 Dividend Aristocr... | 1.49% |
| COWZ Pacer US Cash Cows 100 | 1.47% |
| NOBL ProShares S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats | 1.41% |
| RWL Invesco S&P 500 Revenue | 1.09% |
The eight funds with the largest weight in CAH among the ETFs we cover, from each fund's latest SEC Form N-PORT (quarter-end positions, so they can be months old). All ETFs.
CAH stock splits
CAH has split its stock 6 times since 1990. The latest was a 3-for-2 split on 23 Apr 2001.
Full CAH stock split history →CAH SEC filings
8-KSEC EDGAR
Regulation FD disclosure
DEF 14ASEC EDGAR
Proxy statement
10-KSEC EDGAR
Annual report
8-KSEC EDGAR
Results of operations; Regulation FD disclosure
8-KSEC EDGAR
Entered a material agreement
8-KSEC EDGAR
Director or officer change
10-QSEC EDGAR
Quarterly report
8-KSEC EDGAR
Results of operations; Regulation FD disclosure
Where the numbers come from
Statements SEC EDGAR filings (10-K, 10-Q), quarters derived from year-to-date figures.
Prices end-of-day closes, split-adjusted.
Industry inputs beta, multiples and equity risk premium from Damodaran Online (NYU Stern).
StocksXray is for education only and is not financial advice. Scores and fair values are model estimates from public filings and carry uncertainty.