Cardinal Health (CAH) Competitors

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

Does the media favor CAH or MCK?

In the previous week, McKesson had 6 more articles in the media than Cardinal Health. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for McKesson and 21 mentions for Cardinal Health. McKesson's average media sentiment score of 0.98 beat Cardinal Health's score of 0.87 indicating that McKesson is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Cardinal Health	14 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
McKesson	19 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in CAH or MCK?

87.2% of Cardinal Health shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 85.1% of McKesson shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Cardinal Health shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of McKesson shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is CAH or MCK 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
Cardinal Health	0.56%	-56.56%	4.13%
McKesson	0.77%	-207.50%	5.45%

Do analysts recommend CAH or MCK?

Cardinal Health currently has a consensus price target of $123.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.21%. McKesson has a consensus price target of $631.57, indicating a potential upside of 1.65%. Given Cardinal Health's higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Cardinal Health is more favorable than McKesson.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Cardinal Health	1 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.46
McKesson	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	13 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.94

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer CAH or MCK?

McKesson received 52 more outperform votes than Cardinal Health when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 74.33% of users gave McKesson an outperform vote while only 71.65% of users gave Cardinal Health an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Cardinal Health	Outperform Votes 915 71.65%	Underperform Votes 362 28.35%
McKesson	Outperform Votes 967 74.33%	Underperform Votes 334 25.67%

Is CAH or MCK a better dividend stock?

Cardinal Health pays an annual dividend of $2.02 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.7%. McKesson pays an annual dividend of $2.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Cardinal Health pays out 39.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. McKesson pays out 14.7% 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 raised its dividend for 17 consecutive years.

Which has more volatility & risk, CAH or MCK?

Cardinal Health has a beta of 0.6, indicating that its stock price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, McKesson has a beta of 0.44, indicating that its stock price is 56% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, CAH or MCK?

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
Cardinal Health	$226.83B	0.13	$852M	$5.14	23.41
McKesson	$308.95B	0.26	$3.00B	$19.31	32.17

Summary

McKesson beats Cardinal Health on 17 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.