Healthcare distributor and services company Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) will be reporting results this Thursday before the bell. Here’s what to expect.
Cardinal Health beat analysts’ revenue expectations by 7.8% last quarter, reporting revenues of $64.01 billion, up 22.4% year on year. It was a stunning quarter for the company, with a solid beat of analysts’ revenue estimates and an impressive beat of analysts’ full-year EPS guidance estimates.
Is Cardinal Health a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.
This quarter, analysts are expecting Cardinal Health’s revenue to grow 17.4% year on year to $64.85 billion, a reversal from the 3.8% decrease it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $2.37 per share.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings. Cardinal Health has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates three times over the last two years.
Looking at Cardinal Health’s peers in the healthcare providers & services segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. HCA Healthcare delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 6.7%, missing analysts’ expectations by 1%, and UnitedHealth reported revenues up 12.3%, in line with consensus estimates. HCA Healthcare traded up 4% following the results while UnitedHealth was down 16.4%.
Read our full analysis of HCA Healthcare’s results here and UnitedHealth’s results here.
Investors in the healthcare providers & services segment have had fairly steady hands going into earnings, with share prices down 1.7% on average over the last month. Cardinal Health is up 6.1% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $234.20 (compared to the current share price of $218.18).
When a company has more cash than it knows what to do with, buying back its own shares can make a lot of sense–as long as the price is right. Luckily, we’ve found one, a low-priced stock that is gushing free cash flow AND buying back shares. Click here to claim your Special Free Report on a fallen angel growth story that is already recovering from a setback.