Cardinal Health, Inc. (CAH) earnings on August 11, 2026

Before the market opens Q2 2026

More Cardinal Health, Inc. earnings

Prior outlook: Optimistic Outcome: Accurate

Cardinal Health's stock jumped early after strong quarterly results and a $5B buyback plan, but gave back most gains to close up 1.2%.

CAH price around the earnings

240.26

Change: +1.3%

2026-08-11, 20:00 UTC

Start of the measured window End of the measured window
235.15 242.71 250.28 257.84 237.18
Price series around the eventClosing price per minute from before the event to the end of the measured window.
August 11, 2026
  • Price: green if it ends above the starting price; red if it ends below
  • Start of the measured window
  • End of the measured window
  • Market open
  • Starting price
Price series around the event

Prior thesis

Prior outlook: Optimistic Outcome: Accurate

Thesis published
Results released

Strong forecasts, optimistic scenario

Analysts are optimistic because the company has a strong record of beating earnings forecasts and recently received upgrades, even though the stock has cooled off lately. The positive setup outweighed the more cautious market sentiment.

Context analyzed before publication

Summary
Strong forecasts, optimistic scenario
Playbook
The stock has pulled back recently, but analyst price targets point to an optimistic scenario. Market sentiment is cautious, yet the overall structure remains supportive.
Trend
Analyst confidence dipped recently

Analysts

Drivers

  • Analysts Positive

    Several major banks keep a positive rating with a price target about 6% above the current price.

Evidence

Analysts covering the stock
15
Average price target
252.4
Lowest price target
215
Highest price target
275
Upside to price target
6.4%
Quarterly earnings growth
-21.1%
Revenue growth
11%
Forward EPS
12.05
Trailing EPS
6.57
Analyst moves in the last 60 days
5
  • Strong buy: 2
  • Buy: 12
  • Hold: 3
  • Sell: 0
  • Strong sell: 0
Strong buy
2
Buy
12
Hold
3
Sell
0
Strong sell
0
  • July 24, 2026 · Citigroup: Maintains rating (Buy → Buy)
  • July 23, 2026 · Mizuho: Maintains rating (Outperform → Outperform)
  • July 20, 2026 · UBS: Maintains rating (Buy → Buy)
  • July 9, 2026 · TD Cowen: Maintains rating (Buy → Buy)
  • July 2, 2026 · B of A Securities: Maintains rating (Buy → Buy)

News and sentiment

Evidence

Sentiment
Sentiment
Constructive
Mention volume
High
Normalized volume
99%
News
Sources (8)

Technicals

Drivers

  • Technical Negative

    The stock's short-term trend is positive, but it has underperformed the broader market recently.

Evidence

Price when the context was analyzed
237.21
Average true range (ATR)
2.2%
Distance to 52-week high
-1.1%
14-day change (14d)
+3.5%
30-day change (31d)
+0.7%
30-day relative strength
-1.7%
SPY change (31d)
+2.4%
Nearest support
236.58
Distance to nearest support
0.3%
Nearest resistance
239.07
Distance to nearest resistance
0.8%
Volume accumulation ratio (14d / 46d)
0.76
  • Minor: 236.58 (0.3% away, 0.12 ATR, 6 touches)
  • Mid: 235.38 (0.8% away, 0.36 ATR, 21 touches)
  • Mid: 234.04 (1.3% away, 0.62 ATR, 20 touches)
  • Mid: 239.07 (0.8% away, 0.36 ATR, 11 touches)
  • Minor: 240.83 (1.5% away, 0.7 ATR, 3 touches)
  • Minor: 243.19 (2.5% away, 1.17 ATR, 2 touches)

Trends

Evidence

Average earnings surprise
+11.2%
  • April 30, 2026: actual EPS 3.17 vs estimate 2.79 (surprise +13.7%)
  • February 5, 2026: actual EPS 2.63 vs estimate 2.37 (surprise +11.2%)
  • October 30, 2025: actual EPS 2.55 vs estimate 2.17 (surprise +17.6%)
  • August 12, 2025: actual EPS 2.08 vs estimate 2.03 (surprise +2.4%)

Expected move

Drivers

  • Past earnings Positive

    The company beat earnings expectations in every recent report, with an average surprise of over 11%.

Implied move
+4.9%
Source
Options chain

Reactions over its last 20 earnings

Median move
4%
75th percentile move
6.9%
90th percentile move
10.4%
Up / down moves
11 / 9
Average up move
+5.3%
Average down move
-4.3%

Monitoring and close

What Cardinal Health, Inc. reported

Status
Finished
Actual EPS2.91
EPS estimate2.42
EPS surprise+20.2%
Revenue$63,672 million
Revenue estimate$65,029 million
Revenue surprise-2.1%

Cardinal Health reported Q4 2026 earnings with revenue and earnings growth, helped by pharma demand and a one-time tariff benefit. The company raised its 2027 outlook.

Sources (20)

Pre-market second reading after the results

Verdict
Beat expectations

Heading into the open, results beat expectations on earnings but not on revenue, and the price is indicating +0.2% pre-market, a move below the stock's usual reaction (about 4%). The figures don't confirm the prior scenario: that move is too small to draw conclusions from.

How the stock reacted

Outcome
Accurate
Consolidated
+1.2%
Max favorable move (MFE)
8.9%
Max adverse move (MAE)
0.9%