Cardinal Health Earnings Preview: Analysts Expect Rising Revenue, EPS

Cardinal Health (NYSE: 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 (NYSE: ABC): Moderate Buy with a $0.61 recent quarter EPS
• Covidien (NYSE: COV): Moderate Buy with a $1.01 recent quarter EPS
• CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS): Moderate Buy with a $0.57 recent quarter EPS
• General Electric Company (NYSE: 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