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Largest US pharmaceutical distributor, delivering drugs and medical-surgical supplies to pharmacies, hospitals and providers, plus oncology platforms.
Largest US pharmaceutical distributor, delivering drugs and medical-surgical supplies to pharmacies, hospitals and providers, plus oncology platforms.
Buys drugs from manufacturers and sells them to pharmacies and hospitals at a small markup on huge volume, with generic-drug contracts helping the margin. It also runs oncology practices through the US Oncology Network and sells medical-surgical supplies. It is one of three big US drug wholesalers, with Cencora and Cardinal.
Moat: narrow (scale, distribution, switching costs). Massive logistics scale and entrenched distribution contracts across the US drug supply chain.
Headquarters: Irving, Texas, USA · Founded: 1833 · Employees: 43,000
Size McKesson (MCK) is a United States Health Care company (Medical Distributors) with a market value of $124B, the 103rd largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $1,061 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 44.1%, against +6.3% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 3rd highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 8.8% over the last twelve months (peer median +6.2%); the operating margin is 1.6% (peer median 3.0%).
Valuation It trades at 21.8× forward earnings against a peer median of 16.9× (3rd most expensive of 18).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about -5% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +11%, so the hurdle is -16 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 59.3 points above its cost of capital (6.3% WACC).
Credit McKesson has 11 bonds outstanding ($5.04B), rated BBB+ by the agencies and trading like A at a weighted spread of 59 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 2.0% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 10 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $411B | $403B | $359B | $309B | $277B |
| Revenue growth | — | +12% | +16% | +12% | — |
| Gross profit | $14.1B | $14.1B | $12.5B | $12.2B | $11.9B |
| EBITDA | $7.48B | $6.68B | $5.01B | $4.56B | $5.31B |
| Net income | $4.59B | $4.76B | $3.29B | $3.00B | $3.56B |
| Free cash flow | $6.42B | $5.72B | $5.55B | $3.88B | $4.77B |
| Capital expenditure | $708M | $745M | $859M | $687M | $558M |
| Total debt | $11.7B | $8.61B | $7.39B | $7.39B | $7.29B |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McKesson MCK | $124B | +44% | +9% | 2% | 21.8× | -4.8% |
| Cencora COR | $63.7B | +28% | +5% | 1% | 16.9× | -2.1% |
| Cardinal Health CAH | $62.9B | +48% | +14% | 1% | 20.8× | 8.2% |
| CVS Health CVS | $107B | -7% | +7% | 4% | 9.9× | -3.9% |
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 | MCK | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +14.0% | +3.1% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +44.1% | +6.3% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -5.4% | -14.3% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +8.8% | +6.2% | 6th highest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 1.6% | 3.0% | 8th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 21.8× | 16.9× | 3rd most expensive of 18 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | -4.8% | -1.4% | 8th least demanding of 19 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +11.1% | +5.9% | 3rd highest of 19 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -15.9 pp | -9.3 pp | 3rd least demanding of 19 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +59.3 pp | +1.6 pp | highest of 20 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.9× | 0.6× | 8th most indebted of 16 |
| Bond spread | 59 bp | n/a | — |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| McKesson MCK | United States | $124B | +44% | +9% | 2% | 21.8× | -4.8% | +11.1% |
| Cencora COR | United States | $63.7B | +28% | +5% | 1% | 16.9× | -2.1% | +9.5% |
| Cardinal Health CAH | United States | $62.9B | +48% | +14% | 1% | 20.8× | 8.2% | +9.4% |
| 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% |
McKesson has 11 bonds outstanding with $5.04B face value. The agencies rate it BBB+; its bonds trade like A. Weighted yield 5.24%, a spread of 59 bp over government bonds.