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Cardinal Health (CAH) closed at $117.92 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.02% move from the prior day. The stock outperformed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 1.07%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.97%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq depreciated by 1.19%.
The the stock of prescription drug distributor has fallen by 2.54% in the past month, leading the Medical sector's loss of 5.64% and undershooting the S&P 500's loss of 0.36%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Cardinal Health in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company's earnings report is set to go public on January 30, 2025. On that day, Cardinal Health is projected to report earnings of $1.74 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 4.4%. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $54.84 billion, showing a 4.53% drop compared to the year-ago quarter.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $7.82 per share and revenue of $219.02 billion, indicating changes of +3.85% and -3.51%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Cardinal Health should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed an unchanged state. Cardinal Health is currently a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
In the context of valuation, Cardinal Health is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 15.24. This denotes a discount relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 17.62.
Also, we should mention that CAH has a PEG ratio of 1.49. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Medical - Dental Supplies industry had an average PEG ratio of 2.12 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Medical - Dental Supplies industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 72, putting it in the top 29% of all 250+ industries.