Cardinal Health (CAH) Competitors

McKesson (NYSE:MCK) and Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, earnings, dividends, valuation, community ranking, risk, media sentiment, profitability and institutional ownership.

Do analysts recommend MCK or CAH?

McKesson presently has a consensus price target of $649.36, suggesting a potential downside of 1.68%. Cardinal Health has a consensus price target of $139.36, suggesting a potential upside of 4.36%. Given Cardinal Health's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Cardinal Health is more favorable than McKesson.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
McKesson	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.93
Cardinal Health	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	10 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.71

Which has more volatility & risk, MCK or CAH?

McKesson has a beta of 0.52, suggesting that its share price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cardinal Health has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its share price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MCK or CAH?

McKesson received 51 more outperform votes than Cardinal Health when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 74.27% of users gave McKesson an outperform vote while only 71.42% of users gave Cardinal Health an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
McKesson	Outperform Votes 973 74.27%	Underperform Votes 337 25.73%
Cardinal Health	Outperform Votes 922 71.42%	Underperform Votes 369 28.58%

Which has better valuation and earnings, MCK or CAH?

McKesson has higher revenue and earnings than Cardinal Health. Cardinal Health is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than McKesson, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
McKesson	$344.58B	0.24	$3.00B	$21.84	30.24
Cardinal Health	$222.28B	0.15	$852M	$5.36	24.91

Is MCK or CAH more profitable?

McKesson has a net margin of 0.82% compared to Cardinal Health's net margin of 0.59%. Cardinal Health's return on equity of -59.57% beat McKesson's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
McKesson	0.82%	-181.26%	5.34%
Cardinal Health	0.59%	-59.57%	4.17%

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of MCK or CAH?

85.1% of McKesson shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 87.2% of Cardinal Health shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of McKesson shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Cardinal Health shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the media refer more to MCK or CAH?

In the previous week, McKesson had 11 more articles in the media than Cardinal Health. MarketBeat recorded 39 mentions for McKesson and 28 mentions for Cardinal Health. McKesson's average media sentiment score of 1.50 beat Cardinal Health's score of 1.44 indicating that McKesson is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
McKesson	35 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cardinal Health	21 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is MCK or CAH a better dividend stock?

McKesson pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Cardinal Health pays an annual dividend of $2.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. McKesson pays out 13.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cardinal Health pays out 37.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. McKesson has increased its dividend for 17 consecutive years and Cardinal Health has increased its dividend for 28 consecutive years. Cardinal Health is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

McKesson beats Cardinal Health on 16 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.