Cardinal Health Q3 FY26 Outlook and Guidance for Rest of 2026

Cardinal Health: Q3 2026 Earnings Guidance & Financial Outlook (from the Q3 FY26 earnings call materials)

The excerpts provided are from Cardinal Health’s Third Quarter fiscal 2026 earnings conference call and include guidance updates focused on the remainder of fiscal 2026, plus segment outlook statements. They do not provide a separate, explicit “Q3 2026” earnings per-share range or revenue range for the quarter itself (because Q3 results are already reported); instead, they outline what management expects for the rest of fiscal 2026 and key segment dynamics that inform quarterly modeling going forward.

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1) Company-level guidance update (what management is guiding for as of Q3 FY26)

Full-year fiscal 2026 non-GAAP EPS (raised)

• Management raised and narrowed its full-year fiscal 2026 non-GAAP EPS guidance to $10.70–$10.80. ¹²
• This is described as an increase of $0.50 at the midpoint, with annual EPS growth of 30%–31%. ²

Full-year fiscal 2026 adjusted free cash flow (raised)

• Management raised and narrowed full-year adjusted free cash flow guidance to $3.3B–$3.7B (from $3.0B–$3.5B previously). ³
• The company frames this as reinforcing “robust and resilient cash-generating capabilities.” ³

Below-the-line outlook items updated (supporting the EPS/cash flow view)

• Interest and other outlook updated to approximately $340M (from prior ~$325M). ³
• Non-GAAP effective tax rate for the full year lowered to approximately 19% (from prior guidance range 21%–23%). ³
• Weighted average shares outstanding updated to approximately 237M (from prior guidance of 237M–238M). ³

Interpretation for “Q3 2026 outlook”: while this isn’t “Q3 guidance” in the narrow sense, these are the explicit forward-looking targets management is using after reporting Q3, which will drive expectations for Q4 FY26 and the full-year outcome. ²³

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2) Segment-level profit/revenue outlook (the key guidance details in the excerpts)

Pharmaceutical & Specialty Solutions segment (profit growth outlook raised)

• For segment profit, management raised and narrowed the profit growth outlook to 22%–23%, up from a prior range of 20%–22%. ¹

GMPD segment (revenue and profit guidance reiterated)

• For GMPD, management is:
  • Reiterating revenue outlook of 1%–3% growth. ¹
  • Holding profit guidance at $150M. ¹

“Other growth businesses” (revenue and profit growth guidance updated)

• For other growth businesses, management says:
  • Revenue guidance is unchanged, projecting full-year between 26% and 28% growth. ¹
  • Profit growth guidance is increased to 36%–38% (from 33%–35% previously). ¹
• The increase is attributed to strong performance across all three growth businesses to date. ¹

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3) What management said about near-term drivers affecting the outlook (timing and acquisition/ramp considerations)

Specialty / inorganic drivers and annual comparison effects

• Management indicates guidance modeling needs to consider that it has not fully lapped large pharma wins from fiscal ’25 and the GIA acquisition; thus “Solaris will be the primary inorganic driver” for year-over-year comparisons. ¹
• It also notes management is onboarding distribution volumes for GI Alliance and Solaris during Q4, and that these are reflected in guidance. ¹

Q3 “timing puts and takes” and operational execution framing

• In the GMPD segment, management discusses tariff-related headwinds and execution of the improvement plan, noting tariff exposure is concentrated in GMPD. ⁴
• Management highlights confidence in the pharma outlook supported by factors including annualization of the Solaris acquisition and continued synergy realization. ⁵

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4) Financial outlook risks/uncertainties explicitly mentioned (affecting the quality of guidance)

Tariffs: not fully recognized in current guidance impact

• Management notes refund process uncertainty and that it has not recognized any financial impact in the quarter, even though updates could matter. ⁶
• It states it has paid approximately $200M in IEPA tariffs and expects potential future net benefit to Cardinal to be about half of that $200M, primarily driven by repayment of pricing taken to customers (conditional on circumstances changing/becoming more certain). ⁶
• Management also references a simple messaging point that it has potential for a $200M refund based upon tariffs paid, and that none of that has been put into the P&L at this point. ⁷
• Additionally, it states the Supreme Court ruled tariffs imposed under IEPA unlawful in February 2026, and work is underway to establish a refund process. ⁴

Implication: the tariff refund uncertainty is a key variable around the outlook for earnings and cash conversion timing, especially given management’s note that exposure is concentrated in GMPD. ⁶⁴⁷

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5) Direct answer: “earnings guidance and financial outlook for Q3 2026”

Given the excerpts, Cardinal Health does not provide new “Q3 2026 earnings guidance” for the already-reported Q3 quarter, but it provides a post-Q3 outlook that effectively governs expectations for Q4 and full-year fiscal 2026:

• Full-year FY26 non-GAAP EPS guidance: $10.70–$10.80 (raised/narrowed). ²
• Full-year FY26 adjusted free cash flow guidance: $3.3B–$3.7B (raised/narrowed). ³
• FY26 segment profit outlook (Pharma & Specialty): 22%–23% profit growth (raised/narrowed). ¹
• FY26 GMPD: revenue +1% to +3%, profit $150M (reiterated/held). ¹
• FY26 other growth businesses: revenue +26% to +28% (unchanged); profit growth +36% to +38% (increased). ¹
• Key near-term modeling caveats/drivers: Solaris and other distribution volume onboarding are expected in Q4 and are reflected in guidance. ¹
• Key uncertainty: IEPA tariff refunds are uncertain and not recognized in current results/guidance, despite potential refund upside depending on the refund process. ⁶⁴⁷

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