Cardinal Health, Inc. — Earnings Quality Grade F
CAH · Healthcare
Major red flags
Screening Summary
Financial Trends
Revenue & Net Income ($B)
Margins (%)
18-Point Screening
Revenue Quality
DSO 22 days, change +2 days YoY
AR growth 9.6% vs revenue growth -1.9%
Revenue -1.9%, CFFO -36.3%. Cash follows revenue
Expense Quality
Inventory 12.5% vs COGS -2.3%. Normal
CapEx growth 7.0% vs revenue -1.9%. Normal
SG&A/Gross Profit = 65.9%. Normal
Gross margin 3.7%, change +0.4pp. Stable
Cash Flow Quality
CFFO/NI = 1.54. Profits backed by cash
FCF $1.9B, FCF/NI = 1.19
Accruals ratio = -1.6%. Low accruals
Cash $3.9B covers only 45% of debt $8.5B
Balance Sheet Health
Goodwill+Intangibles $12.2B = -438% of equity. Manageable
Debt/EBITDA = 2.7x. Healthy
Other assets grew 36.2% vs revenue -1.9%
Write-offs normal
Acquisition Risk
FCF after acquisitions positive
Goodwill+Intangibles surged 89% YoY
Manipulation Score
M-Score = -2.32 (< -2.22). Unlikely manipulator
Beneish M-Score
Altman Z-Score
Generated from public financial data using forensic accounting frameworks. Not investment advice. Data: Yahoo Finance · 2026-04-09