Cardinal Health vs Oracle: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Cardinal Health reported $254.2B of revenue in FY2026 and $1.7B of net income. Oracle reported $67.4B of revenue in FY2026 and $17.1B of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Cardinal Health
- Latest revenue
- $254.2B (FY2026)
- Net income
- $1.7B
- Net margin
- 0.7%
- Revenue growth
- +7.7% a year, FY2017–FY2026
Oracle
- Latest revenue
- $67.4B (FY2026)
- Net income
- $17.1B
- Net margin
- 25.4%
- Revenue growth
- +6.6% a year, FY2017–FY2026
Financial summary
Cardinal Health
Cardinal Health combines very large revenue with thin margins. Fiscal 2026 revenue was $254.2 billion, up 14% from $222.6 billion in fiscal 2025, driven by brand and specialty drug volume from existing customers. GAAP operating earnings were $2.6 billion, GAAP diluted EPS was $7.23, and net earnings attributable to Cardinal Health were about $1.7 billion. Non-GAAP diluted EPS rose 37% to $11.26 ($10.95 excluding the IEEPA tariff refund). Operating cash flow was $5.2 billion and adjusted free cash flow was $5.0 billion. The company repurchased $1.4 billion of stock in fiscal 2026 and the board added $5.0 billion to the buyback authorization in August 2026. Fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 revenue was $63.7 billion, up 6%.
Oracle
Oracle's revenue grew from $39.1 billion in FY2020 to $57.4 billion in FY2025 and $67.36 billion in FY2026, when net income was $17.09 billion. Growth is now driven by cloud: Q1 FY2027 cloud revenue (IaaS plus SaaS) was $11.6 billion, up 62%, and operating cash flow was a record $23 billion for the quarter. The other side of the ledger is capex. FY2026 capital spending of $55.7 billion pushed free cash flow negative, and Oracle has funded the gap with bond issuance and equity sales. Management guides to at least $90 billion of FY2027 revenue and non-GAAP EPS of $8.10.
Revenue and profit by year
Cardinal Health
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $254.2B | $1.7B | 0.7% | +14.2% | Source |
| FY2025 | $222.6B | $1.6B | 0.7% | -1.9% | Source |
| FY2024 | $226.8B | $852M | 0.4% | +10.7% | Source |
| FY2023 | $205B | $330M | 0.2% | +13.0% | Source |
| FY2022 | $181.3B | -$938M | -0.5% | +11.6% | Source |
| FY2021 | $162.5B | $611M | 0.4% | +6.2% | Source |
| FY2020 | $152.9B | -$3.7B | -2.4% | +5.1% | Source |
| FY2019 | $145.5B | $1.4B | 0.9% | +6.4% | Source |
| FY2018 | $136.8B | $256M | 0.2% | +5.3% | Source |
| FY2017 | $130B | $1.3B | 1.0% | — | Source |
Oracle
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $67.4B | $17.1B | 25.4% | +17.3% | Source |
| FY2025 | $57.4B | $12.4B | 21.7% | +8.4% | Source |
| FY2024 | $53B | $10.5B | 19.8% | +6.0% | Source |
| FY2023 | $50B | $8.5B | 17.0% | +17.7% | Source |
| FY2022 | $42.4B | $6.7B | 15.8% | +4.8% | Source |
| FY2021 | $40.5B | $13.7B | 34.0% | +3.6% | Source |
| FY2020 | $39.1B | $10.1B | 25.9% | -1.1% | Source |
| FY2019 | $39.5B | $11.1B | 28.1% | +0.3% | Source |
| FY2018 | $39.4B | $3.6B | 9.1% | +4.2% | Source |
| FY2017 | $37.8B | $9.5B | 25.0% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
Cardinal Health
- Pharmaceutical Distribution - Branded, Generic, and Specialty~92%
Product sales and fees from distributing branded, generic, and specialty drugs, plus services from specialty practice platforms. Fiscal 2026 segment revenue was $234.8 billion (up 15%) and segment profit was $2.8 billion (up 23%), driven by brand and specialty volume and generics program performance.
- Medical and Surgical Products Manufacturing and Distribution~5%
Sales of Cardinal Health-brand and national-brand medical, surgical, and laboratory products. Fiscal 2026 GMPD revenue was $12.7 billion and segment profit was $258 million, including a one-time $100 million IEEPA tariff refund benefit. Fiscal 2027 guidance calls for $200-$220 million of segment profit.
- Nuclear Pharmacy, at-Home Solutions, and Logistics~3%
Nuclear and Precision Health Solutions (radiopharmaceuticals), at-Home Solutions (direct-to-patient supplies), and OptiFreight Logistics. Together they generated $6.8 billion of fiscal 2026 revenue (up 26%) and $707 million of segment profit (up 37%), the highest margins in the company.
Oracle
- Cloud Services and License SupportLargest
OCI, SaaS, database services, and recurring support revenue.
- Cloud License and On-Premise LicenseMaterial
New licenses and cloud license rights for enterprise software.
- ServicesMaterial
Consulting, support, and implementation work.
- HardwareSmaller
Exadata, engineered systems, and related hardware products.
Business model and strategy
Cardinal Health
How it makes money
The business model is large, high-volume logistics divided into two segments: Pharmaceutical and Medical. In the Pharma segment, they buy billions of dollars of drugs from manufacturers (like Pfizer) and distribute them daily to tens of thousands of pharmacies and hospitals, taking a tiny markup.
Growth strategy
Cardinal Health's growth plan rests on three levers. First, specialty pharmaceuticals and physician practice platforms: it bought a 71% stake in GI Alliance for about $2.8 billion (announced November 2024) and funded The Specialty Alliance's roughly $1.9 billion acquisition of urology MSO Solaris Health (completed November 2025).
Competitive advantage
Cardinal Health's advantage is physical scale and regulatory standing. Moving regulated, temperature-sensitive drugs and biologics across the country overnight takes a network of specialized distribution centers and security procedures that cost billions of dollars and take decades to build. The barrier to entry is high, so drug distribution is concentrated among a few large companies.
Oracle
How it makes money
Oracle sells to businesses and governments, not consumers. Its largest revenue line is cloud services and license support: customers pay recurring fees for OCI compute, storage, GPUs and database services, for Fusion Cloud ERP, HCM, SCM and NetSuite subscriptions, and for annual support on licensed Oracle Database and middleware.
Growth strategy
Oracle's growth plan rests on renting AI training and inference capacity at very large scale. It is building data centers for OpenAI under the Stargate program (a partnership OpenAI describes as over $300 billion across five years and up to 4.5 gigawatts), and it also serves xAI, Meta, NVIDIA and AMD workloads.
Competitive advantage
Oracle's edge comes from its installed base. Oracle Database runs core financial, telecom and government systems, and moving those workloads is slow, expensive and risky, which keeps support revenue recurring. OCI adds a price-performance pitch built on bare-metal servers and RDMA networking for large GPU clusters, and Oracle can offer the same database inside rival clouds.
Questions about Cardinal Health vs Oracle
Which company has higher revenue — Cardinal Health, Inc. or Oracle Corporation?
Cardinal Health, Inc. reported $254.2B (FY2026), while Oracle Corporation reported $67.4B (FY2026). By last reported revenue, Cardinal Health, Inc. is the larger business, with Oracle Corporation reporting a smaller revenue base.
What is the market cap of Cardinal Health, Inc. vs Oracle Corporation?
Cardinal Health, Inc.'s market capitalisation stands at $56.0B, while Oracle Corporation's is $393.6B. Oracle Corporation carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to Cardinal Health, Inc..
Which is more financially efficient — Cardinal Health, Inc. or Oracle Corporation?
Cardinal Health, Inc. generates $3.98M / employee in revenue per employee, while Oracle Corporation generates $478k / employee. Cardinal Health, Inc. shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do Cardinal Health, Inc. and Oracle Corporation make money?
Cardinal Health, Inc. and Oracle Corporation generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Cardinal Health, Inc.: The business model is large, high-volume logistics divided into two segments: Pharmaceutical and Medical. Oracle Corporation: Oracle sells to businesses and governments, not consumers.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — Cardinal Health, Inc. or Oracle Corporation?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, Cardinal Health, Inc. trades at 0.2x P/S and Oracle Corporation at 5.8x P/S. Oracle Corporation commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Cardinal Health, Inc.. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is Cardinal Health, Inc. bigger than Oracle Corporation?
By last reported revenue, Cardinal Health, Inc. ($254.2B (FY2026)) is the larger company compared to Oracle Corporation ($67.4B (FY2026)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the Cardinal Health vs Oracle overview