S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE:CAH) will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, February 2, 2012. Cardinal Health offers products and services that improve the safety and productivity of healthcare providers.

Cardinal Health, Inc. Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average estimate of analysts is for net income of 76 cents per share, a rise of 10.1% from the company’s actual earnings for the same quarter a year ago. The average estimate is the same as three months ago. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate was unchanged. It also has not changed during the last month. For the year, analysts are projecting profit of $3.19 per share, a rise of 19.5% from last year.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company beat estimates by one cent, coming in at net income of 73 cents a share versus the estimate of profit of 72 cents a share. It marked the fourth straight quarter of beating estimates.

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Wall St. Revenue Expectations: Analysts are projecting a rise of 6% in revenue from the year-earlier quarter to $26.89 billion.

Analyst Ratings: Analysts are bullish on this stock with 14 analysts rating it as a buy, none rating it as a sell and one rating it as a hold.

A Look Back: In the first quarter, profit fell 19.7% to $236.8 million (68 cents a share) from $294.8 million (84 cents a share) the year earlier, but exceeded analyst expectations. Revenue rose 9.6% to $26.79 billion from $24.44 billion.

Key Stats:

Revenue has risen the past four quarters. Revenue rose 9.4% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year from the year earlier, climbed 7.1% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year from the year-ago quarter and 1.8% in the second quarter of the last fiscal year.

The company has seen net income fall in each of the last two quarters. Net income dropped 9.3% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year.

Competitors to Watch: AmerisourceBergen Corp. (NYSE:ABC), McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK), Integra LifeSciences Hldgs. Corp. (NASDAQ:IART), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE:TMO), Teleflex Incorporated (NYSE:TFX), Covidien plc (NYSE:COV), General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE:CVS), Walgreen Company (NYSE:WAG), and Owens & Minor, Inc. (NYSE:OMI).

Stock Price Performance: During December 28, 2011 to January 27, 2012, the stock price had risen $2.28 (5.7%) from $40.06 to $42.34. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between June 27, 2011 and July 7, 2011 when shares rose for eight-straight days, rising 7.1% (+$3.07) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between November 11, 2011 and November 22, 2011 when shares fell for eight-straight days, falling 9.7% (-$4.35) over that span.

(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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