UPDATE: Deutsche Bank Initiates Coverage on Cardinal Health as Opportunities Exist, But No Deal is Imminent

In a report published Thursday, Deutsche Bank analyst George Hill initiated coverage on Cardinal Health CAH with a Hold rating and $66.00 price target. In the report, Deutsche Bank noted, “We are initiating coverage of CAH shares with a Hold rating. While we believe that Cardinal could take a strategic action to participate in the global supply chain theme, we do not believe that a deal is imminent. We estimate that such a deal would drive significant EPS growth above Street and our forecasts. Cardinal has watched as its two largest competitors have made strategic deals or partnerships that have resulted in global purchasing scale and promise meaningful EPS accretion. We think the most likely partner for Cardinal is CVS given Cardinal's distribution deal with the CVS retail stores and the scale CVS would add to Cardinal's purchasing power. We estimate such a deal could be 10% accretive to Cardinal's F2015 EPS.” Cardinal Health closed on Wednesday at $64.78.