Cardinal Health (CAH) Competitors

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

Is MCK or CAH more profitable?

McKesson has a net margin of 0.77% compared to Cardinal Health's net margin of 0.56%. Cardinal Health's return on equity of -56.56% beat McKesson's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
McKesson	0.77%	-207.50%	5.45%
Cardinal Health	0.56%	-56.56%	4.13%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor MCK or CAH?

McKesson received 50 more outperform votes than Cardinal Health when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 74.27% of users gave McKesson an outperform vote while only 71.65% of users gave Cardinal Health an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
McKesson	Outperform Votes 970 74.27%	Underperform Votes 336 25.73%
Cardinal Health	Outperform Votes 920 71.65%	Underperform Votes 364 28.35%

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 endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Which has more risk and volatility, MCK or CAH?

McKesson has a beta of 0.52, meaning that its stock price is 48% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Cardinal Health has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its stock price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts rate MCK or CAH?

McKesson presently has a consensus price target of $646.14, suggesting a potential upside of 9.02%. Cardinal Health has a consensus price target of $133.29, suggesting a potential upside of 5.56%. Given McKesson's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts clearly believe McKesson is more favorable than Cardinal Health.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
McKesson	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.94
Cardinal Health	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	11 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.73

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, 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	$308.95B	0.24	$3.00B	$19.31	30.69
Cardinal Health	$226.83B	0.13	$852M	$5.14	24.57

Is MCK or CAH a better dividend stock?

McKesson pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Cardinal Health pays an annual dividend of $2.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. McKesson pays out 14.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Cardinal Health pays out 39.3% 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 raised its dividend for 17 consecutive years.

Does the media refer more to MCK or CAH?

In the previous week, McKesson had 3 more articles in the media than Cardinal Health. MarketBeat recorded 33 mentions for McKesson and 30 mentions for Cardinal Health. McKesson's average media sentiment score of 1.34 beat Cardinal Health's score of 1.00 indicating that McKesson is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
McKesson	26 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Cardinal Health	17 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

McKesson beats Cardinal Health on 18 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.