In the latest trading session, Cardinal Health (CAH) closed at $215.13, marking a +1.11% move from the previous day. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily gain of 2.51%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 2.85%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 2.8%.
The prescription drug distributor's stock has dropped by 1.97% in the past month, exceeding the Medical sector's loss of 5.12% and lagging the S&P 500's loss of 1.66%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Cardinal Health in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on April 30, 2026. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $2.8, signifying a 19.15% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $62.42 billion, showing a 13.74% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
CAH's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $10.31 per share and revenue of $259.27 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +25.12% and +16.48%, respectively.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Cardinal Health. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. Currently, Cardinal Health is carrying a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
In terms of valuation, Cardinal Health is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 20.63. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 15.09.
Meanwhile, CAH's PEG ratio is currently 1.37. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The average PEG ratio for the Medical - Dental Supplies industry stood at 1.74 at the close of the market yesterday.
The Medical - Dental Supplies industry is part of the Medical sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 74, this industry ranks in the top 31% of all industries, numbering over 250.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).