Cardinal Health Earnings Preview: Analysts Expect Rising Revenue, EPS

Cardinal Health CAH announces its next round of earnings this Thursday, August 4, 2011. Get the latest predictions in Benzinga's essential guide to the company's fourth quarter earnings report.

Earnings and Revenue:

Ahead of the company's earnings announcement, analysts are expecting a positive EPS reading of 58 cents/share and revenues of $26.13 billion. Investors will be keen to see how this quarter's numbers stack up against the year-ago quarter's positive EPS of 50 cents/share on revenues of $24.46 billion. We'll have to wait for Thursday to see if Cardinal Health has accomplished the estimated 16% rise in EPS and 6.8% increase in revenues on a year-over-year basis.

Here's how the company's reported EPS has stacked up against analyst estimates in the past:

Stock Performance:

Shares of Cardinal Health were trading at $43.76 as of July 29, 2011. Since January 1st, shares of Cardinal Health have given investors a return of 15.3%. For a full 12 months, the return has risen by 35%. Given that these returns are generally positive, long-term shareholders are probably satisfied going into this earnings release.

• Long-term shareholders are already enjoying 12-month gains prior to the announcement

Average Stock Rating:

The average rating by analysts for Cardinal Health is a Moderate Buy. Over the past three months this rating's strength has declined slightly.

Competitors:

Wondering how some of the other healthcare companies are doing? Here are a few of Cardinal Health's peers in that sector.

• AmerisourceBergen ABC: Moderate Buy with a $0.61 recent quarter EPS
• Covidien COV: Moderate Buy with a $1.01 recent quarter EPS
• CVS Caremark CVS: Moderate Buy with a $0.57 recent quarter EPS
• General Electric Company GE: Moderate Buy with a $0.33 recent quarter EPS

The retail-drug stores company's industry has seen price/earnings growth of 1.4% during the current fiscal year.

Finally, a description of the company's main areas of operation: Cardinal Health offers products and services that improve the safety and productivity of healthcare providers.

Take Action:

There is your peek into Cardinal Health's upcoming earnings numbers, including some competitors to watch around the time of the announcement. Check back in with us after the announcement for a full recap of the announcement. In the meantime, here are some links to explore today.

• To see up-to-date news on Cardinal Health, click here
• To see other trading ideas, click here
• To see other company earnings recaps, click here