On August 19, 2026, RBC Capital started its coverage on Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) with an "Outperform" rating. Cardinal Health, a global healthcare services and products company that provides pharmaceuticals and medical products, received this positive investment rating when its stock price was $234.98. This suggests that analysts believe Cardinal Health will perform better than the market average, indicating a positive stock analysis.
This positive rating follows a strong fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report from Cardinal Health. The company posted adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.91, a 40% increase from the previous year. EPS shows how much profit a company makes for each share of its stock. This result significantly beat analyst expectations of $2.42 by over 20%, highlighting robust financial performance.
While quarterly sales of $63.67 billion fell short of the $65.03 billion estimate, this was offset by high profitability. As highlighted by Zacks, the earnings beat was driven by strength in the Pharmaceutical and Specialty Solutions segment. Cardinal Health's CEO noted that all five operating segments showed double-digit profit growth for the year.
Looking ahead, the company provided an optimistic outlook for fiscal year 2027. It projects adjusted EPS to be between $12.40 and $12.60. This forecast is above the analyst consensus of $12.04 and implies a growth of 13% to 15%, further supporting the new "Outperform" rating and a positive stock market outlook.
To further boost shareholder value, Cardinal Health increased its share repurchase authorization by $5 billion. A share repurchase, or buyback, is when a company buys its own shares from the market. This action reduces the number of shares available, which can increase the value of the remaining shares and signals management's confidence in the company's future.
