Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.49 EPS

Posted by Brian Himes on Aug 11th, 2026

Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH – Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The company reported $2.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.42 by $0.49, FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $63.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $65.15 billion. Cardinal Health had a negative return on equity of 92.61% and a net margin of 0.62%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.08 earnings per share. Cardinal Health updated its FY 2027 guidance to 12.400-12.600 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from Cardinal Health’s conference call:

Fiscal 2026 results exceeded expectations: fourth-quarter operating earnings rose 30% and EPS increased 40% to $2.91, while full-year adjusted free cash flow reached $5 billion.
Cardinal Health guided fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS to $12.40-$12.60, representing 13%-15% growth from the normalized fiscal 2026 baseline, above its reaffirmed long-term 12%-14% annual growth target.
Pharmaceutical and Specialty Solutions continued to lead performance, with fourth-quarter segment profit up 21%; management expects 8%-11% profit growth in fiscal 2027, supported by specialty, generics, distribution wins, and previously completed acquisitions.
The company authorized an additional $5 billion share-repurchase authorization, bringing total authorization to $6.4 billion, and plans to repurchase at least $1 billion of shares in fiscal 2027.
The quarter included a non-recurring $100 million net benefit from IEEPA tariff refunds, or $0.31 of EPS, while ongoing replacement tariffs, fuel and commodity costs, foreign exchange, and geopolitical risks could pressure GMPD results toward the low end of its $200 million-$220 million fiscal 2027 profit outlook.

Cardinal Health Stock Up 3.4%

CAH traded up $7.96 on Tuesday, reaching $245.13. 507,420 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,025,345. The company has a market cap of $57.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.49. Cardinal Health has a one year low of $137.75 and a one year high of $258.30. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $227.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $216.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CAH has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Cardinal Health from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 4th. TD Cowen raised their price target on Cardinal Health from $255.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Cardinal Health from $245.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Cardinal Health from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Cardinal Health from $256.00 to $245.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 1st. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $251.73.

Get Our Latest Stock Report on Cardinal Health

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cardinal Health

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 12,509,230 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,570,647,000 after acquiring an additional 221,497 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Cardinal Health by 153.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,804,090 shares of the company’s stock valued at $911,010,000 after purchasing an additional 3,511,579 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Cardinal Health by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 3,592,775 shares of the company’s stock worth $563,922,000 after buying an additional 111,582 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Cardinal Health by 14.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,483,207 shares of the company’s stock valued at $546,724,000 after buying an additional 445,425 shares during the period. Finally, Man Group plc raised its holdings in shares of Cardinal Health by 26.1% in the third quarter. Man Group plc now owns 1,605,349 shares of the company’s stock valued at $251,976,000 after acquiring an additional 331,783 shares in the last quarter. 87.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Cardinal Health

Here are the key news stories impacting Cardinal Health this week:

Positive Sentiment: Cardinal Health reported fiscal fourth-quarter adjusted EPS of $2.91, well above the $2.42 analyst consensus and up from $2.08 a year earlier. Profit benefited from specialty-drug demand and a one-time $0.31 tariff-refund impact. Reuters article
Positive Sentiment: Management issued fiscal 2027 adjusted EPS guidance of $12.40 to $12.60, representing 13% to 15% growth and exceeding the approximately $12.05 consensus. The outlook is supported by continued strength in specialty pharmaceuticals and anticipates growth in both major business segments. Cardinal Health earnings release
Positive Sentiment: The board authorized an additional $5 billion for share repurchases, after Cardinal Health bought back $1.4 billion of stock during fiscal 2026. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.5158 per share, payable October 15. Cardinal Health fiscal results
Neutral Sentiment: Fiscal fourth-quarter revenue rose 5.8% to approximately $63.7 billion, while full-year revenue increased 14% to $254.2 billion. Operating cash flow reached $5.2 billion and adjusted free cash flow was $5.0 billion, supporting capital returns and financial flexibility. Quiver Quantitative article
Negative Sentiment: Quarterly revenue fell short of analysts’ roughly $65.15 billion forecast. Investors also noted that reported earnings were helped by the one-time tariff refund, making the underlying quarter less robust than the headline EPS beat suggests. Investors.com article

Cardinal Health Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

Cardinal Health is a multinational healthcare services and products company headquartered in Dublin, Ohio. Tracing its roots to the early 1970s, the company has grown into a major provider of supply chain and distribution services for the healthcare sector. Cardinal Health operates across a range of service lines that support hospitals, health systems, pharmacies, physician offices and clinical laboratories.

The company’s core activities include the wholesale distribution of branded and generic pharmaceuticals, the supply and distribution of medical-surgical products, and the provision of logistics and inventory management solutions.