Cardinal Health (CAH) closed at $210.93 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.25% move from the prior day. The stock outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.5%. At the same time, the Dow added 0.64%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.43%.
Heading into today, shares of the prescription drug distributor had gained 0.02% over the past month, outpacing the Medical sector's loss of 0.63% and lagging the S&P 500's gain of 0.18%.
The upcoming earnings release of Cardinal Health will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings report is expected on February 5, 2026. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $2.33, showcasing a 20.73% upward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $64.33 billion, up 16.41% from the year-ago period.
For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $9.93 per share and a revenue of $258.8 billion, representing changes of +20.51% and +16.27%, respectively, from the prior year.
It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Cardinal Health. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 2.23% higher. Cardinal Health presently features a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
Investors should also note Cardinal Health's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 20.98. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 18.04.
Meanwhile, CAH's PEG ratio is currently 1.43. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Medical - Dental Supplies industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.96.
The Medical - Dental Supplies industry is part of the Medical sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 85, placing it within the top 35% of over 250 industries.
The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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