In the latest trading session, Cardinal Health (CAH) closed at $164.93, marking a +1.82% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.83%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.77%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 1.02%.
The stock of prescription drug distributor has risen by 5.13% in the past month, leading the Medical sector's gain of 2.2% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.99%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Cardinal Health in its upcoming earnings disclosure. In that report, analysts expect Cardinal Health to post earnings of $2.03 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 10.33%. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $60.67 billion, showing a 1.34% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $8.18 per share and revenue of $223.09 billion, indicating changes of +8.63% and 0%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Cardinal Health. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the business outlook.
Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. 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, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 2.04% higher. As of now, Cardinal Health holds a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
In the context of valuation, Cardinal Health is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 17.59. This represents a discount compared to its industry average Forward P/E of 18.
Investors should also note that CAH has a PEG ratio of 1.61 right now. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Medical - Dental Supplies industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.7.
The Medical - Dental Supplies industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 25, which puts it in the top 11% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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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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