In the latest trading session, Cardinal Health (CAH) closed at $257.55, marking a +1.94% move from the previous day. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.28%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 1.02%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.02%.
Heading into today, shares of the prescription drug distributor had gained 11.92% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's gain of 1.01% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.67%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Cardinal Health in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on November 5, 2026. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.92, up 14.51% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $66.96 billion, indicating a 4.6% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $12.55 per share and revenue of $266.02 billion, which would represent changes of +11.46% and +4.63%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Cardinal Health. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.
Our research suggests that these changes in estimates have a direct relationship with upcoming stock price performance. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Right now, Cardinal Health possesses a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
In terms of valuation, Cardinal Health is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 20.14. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 17.17.
One should further note that CAH currently holds a PEG ratio of 1.52. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. Medical - Dental Supplies stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.01 based on yesterday's closing prices.
The Medical - Dental Supplies industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 99, putting it in the top 41% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).