Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH) Stock

Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH) is a Consumer Discretionary stock trading at $224.97 (as of 2026-07-15), with a market capitalization of $52.94B and a trailing P/E of 31.9. Figures are sourced from first-party U.S. SEC EDGAR filings and market data.

Cardinal Health, Inc. operates as an integrated healthcare services and products company in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and internationally. It provides customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories, physician offices, and patients in the home. The company operates in two segments, Pharmaceutical and Medical. The Pharmaceutical segment distributes branded and generic pharmaceutical, specialty pharmaceutical, and over-the-counter healthcare and consumer products. The segment also provides services to pharmaceutical manufacturers and healthcare providers for specialty pharmaceutical products; operates nuclear pharmacies and radiopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities; repackages generic pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter healthcare products; and offers medication therapy management and patient outcomes services to hospitals, other healthcare providers, and payers, as well as provides pharmacy management services to hospitals. The Medical segment manufactures, sources, and distributes Cardinal Health branded medical, surgical, and laboratory products and devices that include exam and surgical gloves; needles, syringe, and sharps disposals; compressions; incontinences; nutritional delivery products; wound care products; single-use surgical drapes, gowns, and apparels; fluid suction and collection systems; urology products; operating room supply products; and electrode product lines. The segment also distributes a range of national brand products, including medical, surgical, and laboratory products; provides supply chain services and solutions to hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories, and other healthcare providers; and assembles and sells sterile, and non-sterile procedure kits. The company was incorporated in 1979 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ohio.

Understand Cardinal Health, Inc.: how it makes money

Cardinal Health provides healthcare products and services, mainly distributing pharmaceutical, specialty, and over-the-counter healthcare products to providers and patients, and also serves healthcare customers through its Medical segment; it makes money primarily through revenue generated by these two operating segments.

Profitability is dominated by the Pharmaceutical & Specialty Solutions segment because it is the majority of total revenue, so shifts in that segment have an outsized effect on operating results.

Revenue by segment (latest quarter)
Pharma$61.0B
Medical$3.9B

Business quality (Weak): Cardinal Health is a two-segment healthcare distributor and services company, but the provided financial snapshot shows very thin gross margin (3.7%) and operating margin (1.1%), which can make results more sensitive to changes in segment performance.

Valuation: At 32× earnings, CAH trades 34% above the Wholesale average (24×). Note: one-time items can distort reported P/E.

Bull case

  • Scale in the core segment: Revenue - Pharmaceutical & Specialty Solutions is 61.0B out of 65.6B total revenue in the provided period, making it the central driver of company performance.
  • Two operating lines provide some diversification: Cardinal Health operates in Pharmaceutical and Medical segments, with Medical contributing 3.93B of revenue in the provided period.

Bear case

  • Thin profitability: The provided financial snapshot shows gross margin of 3.7% and operating margin of 1.1%, leaving less room for error if costs or demand conditions change.
  • Concentration risk in segment mix: Because Pharmaceutical & Specialty Solutions is the large majority of revenue (61.0B of 65.6B), weakness in that segment would have a larger impact on overall results than the smaller Medical segment.
Valuation — source: SEC EDGAR (first-party)
Price$224.97
Market Cap$52.94B
P/E Ratio31.9
EV / EBITDA15.5
Price / Sales0.22
FCF Yield15.3%
DCF Value (model)$279.27
DCF Upside vs Price24.1%
Profitability & Growth — source: SEC EDGAR
Revenue (TTM)$222.58B
Net Margin0.7%
Revenue Growth (YoY)18.8%
FCF Growth (YoY)-163.5%
Financial Health — source: SEC EDGAR
Altman Z-Score4.87 (safe)
Valuation vs Sector & Industry
Stock P/E31.9
Sector P/E (Consumer Discretionary)21.6
Industry P/E (Wholesale)25.0
vs Sector47.7%
vs Industry27.3%
Smart-Money Activity — SEC Form 4 / 13F / Congressional disclosures
Top Institutional HolderVANGUARD GROUP INC ($6.46B)
Institutional Holders Tracked10
Congressional Trades (recent)10
Company
SectorConsumer Discretionary
IndustryWholesale
CEOJason Hollar
Employees47,922
CountryUS
IPO Date1983-08-04

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CAH earnings history · CAH institutional & insider holders · CAH KPIs & operating metrics · Congress trades · Insider trades · Short interest · Stock screener

Data as of 2026-07-15.

Figures sourced from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC EDGAR) filings and market data. Not personalized investment advice.