Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH) manufactures and distributes pharmaceuticals, medical & laboratory products, and performance & data solutions for healthcare facilities. With a market cap of $30.8 billion, Cardinal operates in over 30 countries and employs over 48,000 people across the globe.
While Cardinal Health has lagged behind the broader market over the past year by a small margin, it has significantly outpaced the market in 2025. CAH stock has soared 20.5% over the past 52 weeks and 7.7% in 2025, compared to the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 20.6% gains over the past year and 2.5% surge on a YTD basis.
Zooming in further, while CAH has outpaced the SPDR S&P Health Care Services ETF’s (XHS) 12.8% gains over the past year, it has lagged behind XHS’ 9.5% surge in 2025.
Cardinal Health’s stock prices observed a marginal gain after the release of its better-than-expected Q2 results on Jan. 30. Although the company’s revenues for the quarter were down 3.8% year-over-year to $55.3 billion due to the previously communicated large customer contract expiration, its revenues were up 16% excluding this impact and surpassed the Street’s expectations. Furthermore, its adjusted EPS increased 2.1% year-over-year to $1.93, exceeding the consensus estimates by a notable 10.3%.
For the current fiscal 2025, ending in June, analysts expect Cardinal’s earnings to grow 5.6% year-over-year to $7.95 per share. Furthermore, the company has a robust earnings surprise history. It surpassed the Street’s bottom-line expectations in each of the past four quarters.
Among the 15 analysts covering the CAH stock, the consensus rating is a “Strong Buy.” That’s based on 11 “Strong Buy” and four “Hold” ratings.
This configuration is significantly more bullish than three months ago when the stock had a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and only five analysts gave “Strong Buy” recommendations while one gave “Moderate Buy” and one advocated a “Strong Sell” rating.
On Feb. 5, Jefferies analyst Brian Tanquilut upgraded CAH to “Buy” rating while raising the price target to $150.
CAH’s mean price target of $140.81 suggests a 10.6% premium to current price levels, while its street-high target of $156 indicates a 22.5% upside potential.
On the date of publication, Aditya Sarawgi did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.More news from Barchart
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