Earnings Preview For Cardinal Health (CAH, CFN, OMI)

Cardinal Health CAH is expected to announce its Q1 earnings report on Thursday, April 28, before the bells ring. Analysts are predicting earnings per share to reach $0.69, up 13.1% on the previous year's level of $0.61. Cardinal Health is an Ohio-based global healthcare solutions company providing products and services to hospitals, physician offices and pharmacies. During the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010 (fiscal 2010), the company operated in two segments: Pharmaceutical and Medical. The Pharmaceutical segment included the businesses that were previously within the Healthcare Supply Chain Services segment that distributed pharmaceutical, radiopharmaceutical and over-the-counter healthcare products, as well as the businesses previously within the All Other segment. The Medical segment included the remaining businesses within the Healthcare Supply Chain Services segment and certain surgical and exam gloves, surgical drapes and apparel and fluid management businesses that were previously within the Clinical and Medical Products segment. In September 2010, the company sold the remaining 13.7% interest it held in CareFusion Corporation CFN. Cardinal Health is one of the Fortune 500 companies. Owens & Minor OMI, one of Cardinal's rivals, has recently reported Q1 earnings results below market expectations, which might make some investors more anxious. The recent trend in Cardinal's share prices is positive, however, as its shares passed through the $43.50 mark for the first time in 52 weeks in the early trading today. The majority of rating companies are also optimistic about Cardinal's long-term future as currently 14 agencies have a Buy or Strong Buy on its shares. Analysts are predicting Cardinal's Q1 revenues to grow by 5.9% on a yearly basis to $25.78 billion. For the whole year, the revenue growth rate is expected to be a bit lower at 3.4%. On the other hand, the earnings per share growth rate is expected to increase as the year passes, from the 13.1% level in Q1 to 17% for the whole year. Investors will probably be further encouraged by Cardinal's recent record of beating market expectations. In 2010, all four quarterly reports were better than expected.