Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. HSIC scored 52.7, CAH scored 66.2 — CAH leads.
Compare another set
HSIC
Henry Schein, Inc.
Medical Distribution · Quality-Growth
52.7
$84.01 · $9.4B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
13.5
CAH leads
CAH
Cardinal Health, Inc.
Medical Distribution · Quality-Growth
66.2
$237.57 · $55.0B
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
CheapestHSIC24.5x
Fastest growthCAH+14.2%
Highest qualityCAH68 / 100
Largest discount to fair valueCAH-58%
Side by side · every name on one set of axes
Growth against the P/E multiple. Up and to the right is cheaper and faster — the quality-growth idea in one picture. Points beyond the axis are pinned to the edge and marked off-scale rather than allowed to compress everything else.
The model, pillar by pillar (0–100 each)
HSIC
stronger →← stronger
CAH
63
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
68
61
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
79
38
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
54
CAH is stronger on 3 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
HSIC
CAH
$569mC+
FCF
$4.5bB
+6.5%C+
Rev
+14.2%B+
0.81C+
D/E
Negative equity
24.5xB
P/E
32.9xC+
1.69C+
PEG
1.20B+
Winner per row is the stronger grade; where grades tie, the better figure breaks it. A true tie or a missing value shows no highlight.
Valuation · DCF cross-check
HSIC
CAH
9% below
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
58% below
~3%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~-12%/yr
+5%
1-yr DCF upside
+116%
+9%
5-yr DCF upside
+141%
+15%
10-yr DCF upside
+184%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Model signals
HSIC
Why this score
Buying back stock
CAH
Why this score
Buying back stock
The companies
HSICHenry Schein, Inc.
Medical Distribution · $84.01 · beta 0.84
Why now
Medical Distribution · market cap $9.4b. 9% off the 52-week high of $92.18. 15 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $97.27 (implying +16% upside).
Moat
ROE 13% meets the long-run market sustainable threshold — solid but not differentiated; the durability comes from elsewhere. FCF converts 141% of net income — earnings translate cleanly into cash.
Risk
Net margin 3.0% is thin — operating leverage cuts both ways; input-cost inflation or pricing pressure hits the bottom line first.
CAHCardinal Health, Inc.
Medical Distribution · $237.57 · beta 0.50
Why now
Medical Distribution · market cap $55.0b. 8% off the 52-week high of $258.30. Revenue growing +14%, comfortably above the S&P median. 15 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $270.33 (implying +14% upside).
Moat
Free cash flow runs well ahead of reported net income, mostly because of cash released from working capital ($1.7b) — a release that doesn't repeat every year the way earnings can. $55.0b market cap gives the company enough scale to absorb fixed costs that subscale competitors can't, without yet being so large that growth has to come from acquisition.
Risk
Trailing P/E 33x sits well above the S&P median (~20x) — multiple compression is a real risk if revenue growth decelerates. Net margin 0.7% is thin — operating leverage cuts both ways; input-cost inflation or pricing pressure hits the bottom line first.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
Generating verdict… typically 5–10 seconds
Not investment advice. The Bull Rankings publishes a quantitative ranking model and accompanying analysis for general informational purposes only. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security; nothing is personalized to your circumstances, risk tolerance, or tax situation. Investing carries the risk of loss — invest at your own risk and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before acting on anything you read here. See terms and methodology for full disclosures.
Where HSIC and CAH diverge
On the headline score the gap is 13.5 points in favor of CAH. The widest single difference is Growth, where CAH leads by 17.9 points.
GrowthHSIC 61.3 · CAH 79.2CAH +17.9
ValueHSIC 38.2 · CAH 53.6CAH +15.4
QualityHSIC 62.6 · CAH 68.5CAH +5.9
Pillars run 0–100. Value is judged against each company's own sector, so a Value score is a statement about a company relative to its own industry rather than to the other name here. A wide Value gap usually means the market already prices the difference in quality or growth — which is the trade-off this comparison comes down to.
Common questions
Is CAH or HSIC the better stock?
CAH scores higher: CAH 66.2, HSIC 52.7 out of 100 on the Bull Rankings quality-growth score, which blends business quality, growth and valuation into one number. A higher score means a stronger business at a more reasonable price — it is not a price target or a recommendation.
Where do CAH and HSIC differ most?
The widest gap is growth, where CAH leads by 18 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. CAH leads all three pillars, so the gap is broad rather than a single-measure difference.
How are CAH and HSIC scored?
Each carries the same 0–100 quality-growth score used everywhere on the site, built from three pillars — quality (profitability and returns on capital), growth (revenue and earnings), and value (what you pay for them) — combined as a geometric mean, so a weak pillar cannot be papered over by a strong one.
How current is this comparison?
The whole universe is re-scored every trading day after the US market close, so the scores and fundamentals here reflect the latest published edition.