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.
