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CencoraCORCompetitor analysis, valuation and peers

United States · USD·Health Care›Medical Distributors

Major US pharmaceutical distributor (formerly AmerisourceBergen) delivering drugs and specialty/oncology products worldwide.

Momentum strong 79
Mkt cap
$63.7B
US dollars, full cap
Free float
100%
of shares outstanding
$/day
$478M
20-day average traded
Fwd P/E
16.9×
forward earnings
ROIC−WACC
+29.6 pp
WACC 7.4%
Hurdle
-12 pp
Req g minus delivered
Official | Implied
BBB+ / A-
agencies · bond market
Next earnings
89 days
3 Feb 2027
Close · USD$333.56
1D-1.8%
1W+0.8%
1M+3.8%
3M+2.6%
6M+28.1%
YTD-0.8%
1Y-5.2%
ATR %2.8%
Beta0.01
52w lowhigh11.3% off high

What Cencora does

Major US pharmaceutical distributor (formerly AmerisourceBergen) delivering drugs and specialty/oncology products worldwide.

Buys medicines from manufacturers and resells them to pharmacies, hospitals and clinics for a thin margin, so earnings come from huge volume plus fees for services to drugmakers. A few large customers, notably Walgreens, account for a big share of sales. Specialty-drug distribution and services to oncology practices bring higher margins.

Products and services

  • US Healthcare Solutions distribution
  • International distribution (World Courier, Europe)
  • Specialty/oncology services

Customers

  • Retail/independent pharmacies
  • Hospitals
  • Physician practices
  • Biopharma manufacturers

Where it sits in the supply chain

  • Healthcare
  • Pharmaceutical/medical distribution
  • Wholesale drug distribution

What could go right

  • Specialty/biologics distribution growth
  • GLP-1 drug volume growth

What could go wrong

  • Thin distribution margins
  • Opioid litigation liabilities

Moat: narrow (scale, distribution, switching costs). Large-scale logistics network and long-term distribution agreements with drug manufacturers and pharmacies.

Headquarters: Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, USA · Founded: 1985

Named competitors

Cencora at a glance

Size Cencora (COR) is a United States Health Care company (Medical Distributors) with a market value of $63.7B, the 206th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $333.56 on 6 Nov 2026.

Performance Over six months the shares gained 28.1%, against +6.3% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 6th highest of 21 in its peer set.

Growth Revenue grew 5.0% over the last twelve months (peer median +6.4%); the operating margin is 1.4% (peer median 3.0%).

Valuation It trades at 16.9× forward earnings against a peer median of 17.4× (9th cheapest of 18).

Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about -2% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +10%, so the hurdle is -12 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.

Capital Return on invested capital runs 29.6 points above its cost of capital (7.4% WACC).

Credit Cencora has 16 bonds outstanding ($9.66B), rated BBB+ by the agencies and trading like A- at a weighted spread of 74 bp.

Short interest Short interest is 2.1% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).

Next results Next results expected around 3 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).

Relative performance

10012014011 May 202611 Aug 20266 Nov 2026COR 129Peer median 107
Six months, rebased to 100: Cencora against the median of its 20 peers (local-currency closes).

Cencora financials

Reported figures in USD; fiscal year ends 2026-09-30. TTM = trailing twelve months.
TTMFY2026FY2025FY2024FY2023
Revenue$337B$337B$321B$294B$262B
Revenue growth—+5%+9%+12%—
Gross profit$12.8B$12.8B$10.1B$8.70B$7.76B
EBITDA$5.77B$5.79B$4.71B$4.15B$3.42B
Net income$3.48B$3.48B$1.55B$1.51B$1.75B
Free cash flow$3.88B$3.88B$3.21B$3.00B$3.45B
Capital expenditure$910M$910M$668M$487M$458M
Total debt$11.3B$11.3B$9.33B$5.62B$5.89B

Quarterly statements and history in the cockpit →

Cencora competitor charts

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.

Performance: 6-month against 1-month return

0%+20%+40%0%+10%CAHMCKHSIC1099DKSHGALE600998AMP74593349ASKER27840089309987RDC812933603015846005877476COR6-month return →1-month return →
Up and to the right = strong over both horizons. Cencora is the large dot.

Fundamentals: revenue growth against valuation

0%+5%+10%+15%10×20×CAHMCKHSIC1099DKSHGALE600998AMP74593349ASKER2784812933606005877476CORRevenue growth (TTM) →Forward P/E →
Further right = faster growth; higher = more expensive. The dashed lines are the peer medians. Cencora is the large dot.

Capital: growth delivered against growth the price implies

-10%0%+10%+20%0%20%CAHMCKHSIC1099DKSHGALE600998AMP7459ASKER2784008930998733603015846005877476CORGrowth delivered (Del g) →Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) →
Above the diagonal = the price needs more growth than the company has been delivering; below = the price already allows for a slowdown. Cencora is the large dot.

Cencora competitors and peer comparison

Head to head with its named competitors (COR vs MCK vs CAH)
CompanyMarket cap6M returnRevenue growthOp. marginForward P/EReq g
Cencora COR$63.7B+28%+5%1%16.9×-2.1%
McKesson MCK$124B+44%+9%2%21.8×-4.8%
Cardinal Health CAH$62.9B+48%+14%1%20.8×8.2%

How Cencora compares with its peers

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.

Cencora against its 20 peers (data as of 6 Nov 2026)
MeasureCORPeer medianRank in peer set
1-month return+3.8%+3.1%10th highest of 21
6-month return+28.1%+6.3%6th highest of 21
Distance from 52-week high-11.3%-14.3%7th highest of 21
Revenue growth (TTM)+5.0%+6.4%8th lowest of 21
Operating margin1.4%3.0%7th lowest of 21
Forward P/E16.9×17.4×9th cheapest of 18
Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs)-2.1%-1.4%9th least demanding of 19
Growth delivered (Del g)+9.5%+5.9%6th highest of 19
Hurdle (Req g minus delivered)-11.7 pp-9.3 pp8th least demanding of 19
ROIC minus cost of capital+29.6 pp+1.6 pp2nd highest of 20
Net debt / EBITDA1.1×0.6×7th most indebted of 16
Bond spread74 bpn/a—

Peer table

Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size
CompanyMarketMarket cap6M returnRevenue growthOp. marginForward P/EReq gDelivered g
Cencora CORUnited States$63.7B+28%+5%1%16.9×-2.1%+9.5%
Cardinal Health CAHUnited States$62.9B+48%+14%1%20.8×8.2%+9.4%
McKesson MCKUnited States$124B+44%+9%2%21.8×-4.8%+11.1%
Henry Schein HSICUnited States$9.51B+22%+6%6%14.8×9.8%+5.4%
Sinopharm 1099.HKHong Kong$6.83B-4%+3%3%6.3×-8.1%+4.0%
DKSH DKSH.SWSwitzerland$6.10B+29%-1%3%21.5×-1.4%+0.6%
Galenica GALE.SWSwitzerland$5.46B+8%+6%5%23.4×6.9%+3.5%
Jointown Pharmaceutical 600998.SSChina$3.96B+1%+9%2%11.7×0.1%+7.8%
Amplifon AMP.MIItaly$3.72B+13%0%9%18.1×9.5%+9.8%
MEDIPAL 7459.TJapan$3.67B+14%+4%1%12.6×-7.4%+3.5%
COSMOS Pharmaceutical 3349.TJapan$3.20B+5%+9%4%15.7×n/an/a
Asker Healthcare ASKER.STSweden$2.98B-5%+12%7%26.6×1.2%+12.7%
Alfresa 2784.TJapan$2.79B-3%+5%1%17.4×-9.1%+3.5%
Hanmi Science 008930.KSSouth Korea$2.71B+44%+6%5%n/a24.2%+9.6%
Suzuken 9987.TJapan$2.29B-9%+5%1%15.0×-11.9%+3.2%
Redcare Pharmacy RDC.DEGermany$1.63B+52%+19%0%n/an/an/a
Toho 8129.TJapan$1.60B-14%+4%1%21.6×-7.4%+5.1%
Ship Healthcare 3360.TJapan$1.34B+4%+7%3%13.8×-14.7%+7.6%
Shanghai C and D INNOSTIC Medical Technology 301584.SZChina$1.20B-28%+8%3%n/a-1.3%+17.9%
Shinva Medical Instrument 600587.SSChina$1.16B-7%+6%5%14.2×-5.9%+1.2%
AS ONE 7476.TJapan$1.08B+15%+10%12%18.2×-1.0%+6.3%

Cencora bonds and credit

Cencora has 16 bonds outstanding with $9.66B face value. The agencies rate it BBB+; its bonds trade like A-. Weighted yield 5.26%, a spread of 74 bp over government bonds.

Every bond, yield and spread in the cockpit →

Questions

Who are Cencora's main competitors?
Named competitors: McKesson Corporation (MCK), Cardinal Health (CAH). The cockpit's measured peer set (industry) also includes Cardinal Health (CAH), McKesson (MCK), Henry Schein (HSIC), Sinopharm (1099.HK), DKSH (DKSH.SW), Galenica (GALE.SW).
Is Cencora expensive compared with its peers?
On forward p/e it trades at 16.9× against a peer median of 17.4×, 9th cheapest of 18 in its peer set. For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about -2% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +10%, so the hurdle is -12 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
How has Cencora stock performed?
Over six months to 6 Nov 2026 the shares returned +28.1% against +6.3% for the median peer; over one year -5.2%.

How these numbers are made. Returns are close-to-close in local currency. Revenue growth and margins are trailing twelve months. Req g is the revenue growth that today's enterprise value requires for seven years at the company's own cost of capital; Delivered g is what it actually grew; the gap is the hurdle (honest precision about ±8 points, so read the ranking more than the decimal). No fair values, price targets or analyst ratings are shown, by design. Method and validation.