Is CAH a high-quality business?

AlphaMadera's AlphaQuality grade scores Cardinal Health, Inc. on six pillars — profitability, capital efficiency, balance-sheet strength, growth durability, cash generation, and shareholder yield. The composite letter grade reflects how CAH compares to a Buffett-style quality bar.

What is Cardinal Health, Inc.'s AlphaQuality grade?

AlphaQuality assigns a letter grade (A through F) to CAH based on a six-pillar quantitative model. The live page shows the composite grade plus each pillar's individual score with the underlying metrics.

What makes CAH a quality stock?

AlphaQuality looks at return on capital, free-cash-flow margins, debt-to-equity, revenue stability, dividend and buyback policy, and operating-margin trend. Stocks scoring well across all six pillars earn higher grades — the methodology favors compounders over cyclicals.

CAH - Cardinal Health, Inc.

Price: -- -- | CONSENSUS: Buy DETAILS | PRICE TARGET: $253.38 DETAILS

AlphaQuality

Quantitative six-pillar business-quality grade

Stable Earnings Power

AlphaQuality — archetype-weighted quantitative grade

B- 62.4 / 100 composite

Composite Grade

Composite of six pillars weighted for stable earnings power businesses. Purely quantitative — no stock price or analyst input.

Profitability

Weight: 20%

C+ 58.9

5yr Avg ROIC 9.5% 58/100
Operating Margin Trend +0.23 pp/yr 62/100

Capital Efficiency

Weight: 15%

D+ 41.3

5yr Avg ROE 0.0% 10/100
5yr Share-Count CAGR -4.7% 99/100

Growth Quality

Weight: 15%

A- 85.0

5yr Revenue CAGR 8.2% 75/100
5yr EPS CAGR 32.7% 100/100
Revenue-Growth Years (5) 4/5 80/100

Cash Generation

Weight: 15%

C- 46.4

5yr FCF Margin 1.2% 31/100
5yr FCF/NI Conversion 3.87x 65/100

Balance Sheet

Weight: 20%

A- 83.9

Net Debt / EBITDA 1.76x 74/100
Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int) 10.77x 86/100
Altman Z-Score 4.98 100/100

Stability

Weight: 15%

C 52.8

EPS Volatility (σ/μ) 0.52 28/100
Piotroski F-Score 6 67/100
Negative-Revenue Years (5) 1/5 80/100

4 of 4 gurus held; 2 added; 2 trimmed.

Holders: 4
Avg Δ position: +7.8%
New buys: 0
Full exits: 0

Cooperman increased +125%
Wood decreased -54%
Dalio decreased -47%

How this is calculated

AlphaQuality grades six pillars from 0-100 and weights each by archetype:

Profitability (20%) — 5yr Avg ROIC, Operating Margin Trend
Capital Efficiency (15%) — 5yr Avg ROE, 5yr Share-Count CAGR
Growth Quality (15%) — 5yr Revenue CAGR, 5yr EPS CAGR, Revenue-Growth Years (5)
Cash Generation (15%) — 5yr FCF Margin, 5yr FCF/NI Conversion
Balance Sheet (20%) — Net Debt / EBITDA, Interest Coverage (EBIT/Int), Altman Z-Score
Stability (15%) — EPS Volatility (σ/μ), Piotroski F-Score, Negative-Revenue Years (5)

We deliberately ignore stock price, analyst targets, and consensus ratings so the grade is suitable for backtesting forward returns. A minimum of 5 fiscal years of audited statements is required; distressed and highly leveraged infrastructure businesses are declared ungradable rather than forced into a numeric score.