Here's Why You Should Add Cencora Stock to Your Portfolio Now

Cencora, Inc. COR is well-poised for growth on the back of a robust U.S. Healthcare Solutions business and product launches. However, intense competition is a concern.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company have risen 50.1% so far this year compared with the industry’s 5.7% gain. The S&P 500 Index has jumped 18.7% in the same time frame.

Cencora is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical service companies. It is focused on providing drug distribution and related services to reduce healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes. The company has a market capitalization of $65.53 billion.

COR’s bottom line is anticipated to improve 11.9% over the next five years. Its earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, delivering an average surprise of 5.51%.

Positive Factors Driving COR’s Prospects

Strong U.S. Healthcare Solutions Momentum, Especially in Specialty: Cencora’s U.S. Healthcare Solutions segment delivered 25% operating income growth, supported by robust utilization trends, strong specialty volumes, and favorable biosimilar conversion in physician practices and health systems. Management emphasized broad-based strength across the U.S. business and superior execution as key contributors.

Strategic Boost From RCA Acquisition: The acquisition of Retina Consultants of America (“RCA”) is meaningfully expanding gross profit and operating income, aided by high-margin specialty services. RCA demonstrated stronger-than-expected integration, strong cultural alignment and reinforced Cencora’s leadership in retina and broader specialty distribution. Management sees RCA as a long-term growth engine with expanding therapeutic opportunities.

Raised FY25 Guidance Reflects Business Outperformance: COR issued its fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS outlook to be in the $17.45-$17.75 range, implying 9-11% growth. Adjusted operating income is expected to improve 8-10% for fiscal 2026, likely to be driven by the exceptional U.S. segment performance. Consistent upward revisions indicate underlying demand strength and operational leverage.

Continued Investment in Digital Transformation and Capabilities: Management highlighted ongoing investments in digital infrastructure, analytics, productivity programs, and strategic growth areas such as specialty distribution and MSO platforms (RCA, OneOncology). These investments are expected to enhance operational efficiency, deepen customer integration and sustain long-term competitive advantage.

Negative Factors Hurting COR

Weakness in International Healthcare Solutions: The international segment continues to face declines in global specialty logistics and consulting, caused by subdued clinical trial activity and slower-than-expected recovery in biotech services. The operating income for the segment was down 2% in the fourth-quarter of fiscal 2025, worse than previous expectations.

GLP-1 Growth Moderation and Loss of Low-Margin Revenue Sources: Although GLP-1 sales remain strong, their growth has slowed to 19%, down from earlier periods, weakening one of the company’s major drivers of top-line expansion.Additionally, COR lost a large grocery-channel customer — high revenues but very low margin — which is weighing on reported revenue growth. These factors led the company to trim its U.S. revenue outlook to the lower end of the range.

Estimate Trend

COR has been witnessing a positive estimate revision trend for fiscal 2026. In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings has increased from $17.37 to $17.66 per share.

The consensus mark for first-quarter fiscal 2026 revenues is pegged at $85.89 billion, indicating a 5.4% improvement from the year-ago reported actuals. The bottom-line estimate is pinned at $4.05, implying year-over-year growth of 8.6%.

Cencora, Inc. Price

Cencora, Inc. price | Cencora, Inc. Quote

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks in the broader medical space are Medpace Holdings MEDP, Intuitive Surgical ISRG and Veracyte VCYT.

Medpace, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2, reported third-quarter 2025 earnings per share (EPS) of $3.86, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 10.29%. Revenues of $659.9 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.04%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy)stocks here.

MEDP has an estimated earnings growth rate of 17.1% for 2025 compared with the industry’s 16.6% growth. The company beat on earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 14.28%.

Intuitive Surgical, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 at present, posted third-quarter 2025 adjusted EPS of $2.40, which exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 20.6%. Revenues of $2.51 billion topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3.9%.

ISRG has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 15.7% compared with the industry’s 11.9% growth. The company’s earnings outpaced estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 16.34%.

Veracyte, currently flaunting a Zacks Rank #1, reported a third-quarter 2025 adjusted EPS of $0.51, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 59.38%. Revenues of $131.8 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.5%.

VCYT has an estimated earnings growth rate of 38.6% for 2025 compared with the industry’s 13.1% growth. The company beat earnings estimates in the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 45.12%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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