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Major US distributor of pharmaceuticals and medical-surgical products to pharmacies, hospitals and labs, plus own-brand medical products.
Major US distributor of pharmaceuticals and medical-surgical products to pharmacies, hospitals and labs, plus own-brand medical products.
Resells branded and generic drugs to pharmacies and hospitals for a thin margin, and earns more from generics through Red Oak Sourcing, a purchasing venture with CVS. A few large pharmacy chains, notably CVS and Walgreens, provide a big share of sales. Its Medical segment sells own-brand gloves, gowns and kits and has been rebuilding margins.
Moat: narrow (scale, distribution). National-scale logistics network across both drug and medical-surgical supply chains.
Headquarters: Dublin, Ohio, USA · Founded: 1971 · Employees: 63,900
Size Cardinal Health (CAH) is a United States Health Care company (Medical Distributors) with a market value of $62.9B, the 209th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $271.72 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 48.3%, against +6.3% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 2nd highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 14.2% over the last twelve months (peer median +6.2%); the operating margin is 1.3% (peer median 3.0%).
Valuation It trades at 20.8× forward earnings against a peer median of 16.9× (6th most expensive of 18).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 8% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +9%, so the hurdle is -1 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Credit Cardinal Health has 13 bonds outstanding ($7.98B), rated BBB by the agencies and trading like A- at a weighted spread of 83 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 3.3% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 4 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2026 | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $254B | $254B | $223B | $227B | $205B |
| Revenue growth | — | +14% | -2% | +11% | — |
| Gross profit | $9.41B | $9.40B | $7.86B | $7.15B | $6.59B |
| EBITDA | $4.24B | $4.22B | $3.26B | $2.86B | $2.48B |
| Net income | $1.71B | $1.71B | $1.56B | $852M | $330M |
| Free cash flow | $4.53B | $4.53B | $1.85B | $3.25B | $2.36B |
| Capital expenditure | $649M | $649M | $547M | $511M | $481M |
| Total debt | $9.95B | $9.95B | $9.35B | $5.61B | $5.18B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinal Health CAH | $62.9B | +48% | +14% | 1% | 20.8× | 8.2% |
| McKesson MCK | $124B | +44% | +9% | 2% | 21.8× | -4.8% |
| Cencora COR | $63.7B | +28% | +5% | 1% | 16.9× | -2.1% |
| Medline MDLN | $52.1B | 0% | +12% | 6% | 26.1× | 17.1% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | CAH | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +13.7% | +3.1% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +48.3% | +6.3% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -5.1% | -14.3% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +14.2% | +6.2% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 1.3% | 3.0% | 4th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 20.8× | 16.9× | 6th most expensive of 18 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 8.2% | -1.8% | 4th most demanding of 19 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +9.4% | +5.9% | 7th highest of 19 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -1.2 pp | -11.3 pp | 5th most demanding of 19 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.2× | 0.6× | 6th most indebted of 16 |
| Bond spread | 83 bp | n/a | — |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cardinal Health CAH | United States | $62.9B | +48% | +14% | 1% | 20.8× | 8.2% | +9.4% |
| Cencora COR | United States | $63.7B | +28% | +5% | 1% | 16.9× | -2.1% | +9.5% |
| McKesson MCK | United States | $124B | +44% | +9% | 2% | 21.8× | -4.8% | +11.1% |
| Henry Schein HSIC | United States | $9.51B | +22% | +6% | 6% | 14.8× | 9.8% | +5.4% |
| Sinopharm 1099.HK | Hong Kong | $6.83B | -4% | +3% | 3% | 6.3× | -8.1% | +4.0% |
| DKSH DKSH.SW | Switzerland | $6.10B | +29% | -1% | 3% | 21.5× | -1.4% | +0.6% |
| Galenica GALE.SW | Switzerland | $5.46B | +8% | +6% | 5% | 23.4× | 6.9% | +3.5% |
| Jointown Pharmaceutical 600998.SS | China | $3.96B | +1% | +9% | 2% | 11.7× | 0.1% | +7.8% |
| Amplifon AMP.MI | Italy | $3.72B | +13% | 0% | 9% | 18.1× | 9.5% | +9.8% |
| MEDIPAL 7459.T | Japan | $3.67B | +14% | +4% | 1% | 12.6× | -7.4% | +3.5% |
| COSMOS Pharmaceutical 3349.T | Japan | $3.20B | +5% | +9% | 4% | 15.7× | n/a | n/a |
| Asker Healthcare ASKER.ST | Sweden | $2.98B | -5% | +12% | 7% | 26.6× | 1.2% | +12.7% |
| Alfresa 2784.T | Japan | $2.79B | -3% | +5% | 1% | 17.4× | -9.1% | +3.5% |
| Hanmi Science 008930.KS | South Korea | $2.71B | +44% | +6% | 5% | n/a | 24.2% | +9.6% |
| Suzuken 9987.T | Japan | $2.29B | -9% | +5% | 1% | 15.0× | -11.9% | +3.2% |
| Redcare Pharmacy RDC.DE | Germany | $1.63B | +52% | +19% | 0% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Toho 8129.T | Japan | $1.60B | -14% | +4% | 1% | 21.6× | -7.4% | +5.1% |
| Ship Healthcare 3360.T | Japan | $1.34B | +4% | +7% | 3% | 13.8× | -14.7% | +7.6% |
| Shanghai C and D INNOSTIC Medical Technology 301584.SZ | China | $1.20B | -28% | +8% | 3% | n/a | -1.3% | +17.9% |
| Shinva Medical Instrument 600587.SS | China | $1.16B | -7% | +6% | 5% | 14.2× | -5.9% | +1.2% |
| AS ONE 7476.T | Japan | $1.08B | +15% | +10% | 12% | 18.2× | -1.0% | +6.3% |
Cardinal Health has 13 bonds outstanding with $7.98B face value. The agencies rate it BBB; its bonds trade like A-. Weighted yield 5.71%, a spread of 83 bp over government bonds.