{"id":66324,"date":"2026-08-11T07:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T11:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/cardinal-health-tops-q4-earnings-estimates-and-issues-strong-2027-outlook\/66324\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T07:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T11:08:11","slug":"cardinal-health-tops-q4-earnings-estimates-and-issues-strong-2027-outlook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/cardinal-health-tops-q4-earnings-estimates-and-issues-strong-2027-outlook\/66324\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinal Health Tops Q4 Earnings Estimates and Issues Strong 2027 Outlook"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cardinal Health (<a href=\"\/stock\/CAH\">CAH<\/a>) reported adjusted EPS of $2.91 for Q4 2026, significantly beating the analyst consensus of $2.42.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The company issued fiscal year 2027 guidance for adjusted EPS of $12.40 to $12.60, well above the Wall Street estimate of $12.06.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Quarterly revenue reached $63.7 billion, a 6% year-over-year increase, though it slightly missed the $65.16 billion expectation.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Management announced a massive $5.0 billion increase to its share repurchase authorization, signaling strong confidence in future cash flows.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Adjusted operating income for the quarter rose to $935 million, surpassing the $817.8 million estimate behind double-digit profit growth across all segments.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Strong Earnings Performance and Margin Expansion<\/h2>\n<p>Cardinal Health (<a href=\"\/stock\/CAH\">CAH<\/a>) delivered a robust fourth-quarter performance for fiscal year 2026, characterized by a substantial earnings beat and expanding margins. The company reported <strong>adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $2.91<\/strong>, representing a <strong>40% increase<\/strong> over the prior year. This figure included a <strong>$0.31 per share benefit<\/strong> from a one-time tariff refund; however, even when excluding this impact, the adjusted EPS of <strong>$2.60<\/strong> comfortably cleared the analyst consensus of <strong>$2.42<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>Pharmaceutical and Specialty Solutions<\/strong> segment remained the primary engine of growth, with revenue rising <strong>6% to $58.8 billion<\/strong>. Segment profit for this division surged <strong>21% to $645 million<\/strong>, driven by strong performance in brand and specialty pharmaceutical products. <em>Investors reacted positively to the results, with shares rising nearly 4% in <a href=\"https:\/\/stockmarketwatch.com\/movers\/premarket\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Premarket Movers\">pre-market trading<\/a> as the market digested the significant bottom-line outperformance.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>Fiscal 2027 Guidance and Strategic Growth<\/h2>\n<p>Looking ahead, Cardinal Health (<a href=\"\/stock\/CAH\">CAH<\/a>) provided an optimistic outlook for fiscal year 2027. The company expects <strong>adjusted EPS between $12.40 and $12.60<\/strong>, which implies a <strong>13% to 15% growth rate<\/strong> from the adjusted 2026 base. This guidance exceeds the <strong>$12.06<\/strong> analysts had projected, reflecting management&#39;s confidence in continued operational leverage and the integration of recent acquisitions.<\/p>\n<p>The company&#39;s 2027 projections include contributions from the recently completed acquisition of <strong>Strive Medical<\/strong> and the pending purchase of <strong>AdaptHealth&#39;s<\/strong> diabetes health business. CEO <strong>Jason Hollar<\/strong> noted that all five operating segments achieved double-digit profit growth in 2026, describing the year as a &quot;standout&quot; for the company&#39;s disciplined strategic execution.<\/p>\n<h2>Capital Allocation and Shareholder Returns<\/h2>\n<p>Cardinal Health (<a href=\"\/stock\/CAH\">CAH<\/a>) continues to prioritize shareholder returns through aggressive capital allocation. During fiscal 2026, the company completed <strong>$1.4 billion in share repurchases<\/strong> and recently approved a new <strong>$5.0 billion authorization<\/strong>. This brings the total remaining repurchase capacity to approximately <strong>$6.4 billion<\/strong> as of August 2026.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to buybacks, the Board of Directors maintained its commitment to dividends, declaring a regular quarterly dividend of <strong>$0.5158 per share<\/strong>. The company ended the fiscal year with a strong liquidity position, reporting <strong>$5.17 billion in operating cash flow<\/strong> and <strong>$4.97 billion in adjusted free cash flow<\/strong>, providing ample flexibility for further &quot;tuck-in&quot; acquisitions and internal investments in automation and robotics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Cardinal Health (CAH) reported adjusted EPS of $2.91 for Q4 2026, significantly beating the analyst consensus of $2.42. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50383,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"rank_math_schema_Article":[],"rank_math_focus_keyword":[],"rank_math_description":[],"financial_data_references":[],"stock_symbols_mentioned":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[5012],"tags":[182,1807,3886,4380,5227,6391,8580],"class_list":["post-66324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","tag-cah","tag-earnings","tag-eps","tag-stock-market","tag-healthcare","tag-guidance","tag-cardinal-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www2.stockmarketwatch.com\/stock-market-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}