Cardinal Health (NYSE:CAH) topped the consensus for both the top and bottom lines during its fiscal third quarter and raised its earnings outlook for the rest of fiscal 2019.
The Dublin, Ohio-based healthcare giant posted profits of $296 million, or 99¢ per share, on sales of 35.23 billion for the three months ended March 31, for a bottom-line gain of 16.1% on sales growth of 4.7% compared with fiscal Q3 2018.
Adjusted to exclude one-time items, earnings per share were $1.59, well ahead of the $1.43-per-share consensus on Wall Street, where analysts were looking for revenues of $35.20 billion.
“We are pleased that Cardinal Health again delivered overall operating results that were consistent with our expectations for the quarter,” CEO Mike Kaufmann said in prepared remarks. “Solid progress on our strategic initiatives, the recent renewal of our largest customer and our ability to navigate evolving market dynamics give us confidence over the long term.”
Cardinal raised the low end of adjusted EPS guidance to $5.02 to $5.17,. up from $4.97 to $5.17 previously.
CAH shares were off -1.6% to $48.91 apiece today in late-morning trading, amid a wider selloff spurred by the Trump administrations threat of increased trade tariffs on China.
Medical segment slides
Profits for Cardinal Health’s medical business were off -22.1% to $155 million during the quarter, compared with the same period last year, on a -1.1% sales decline to $3.87 billion.