Here's Why You Should Retain Cencora Stock in Your Portfolio for Now

Cencora COR is well poised for growth on the back of a robust U.S. Healthcare Solutions business and product launches. However, intense competition is a concern.

This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company’s shares have lost 0.2% in the year-to-date period compared with the industry’s 3.1% decline. However, the S&P 500 Index has gained 11.4% in the same time frame.

Cencora is one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical service companies. It is focused on providing drug distribution and related services to reduce healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes. The company has a market capitalization of $64.19 billion.

COR’s bottom line is anticipated to improve 9.9% over the next five years. Its earnings beat estimates in three of the trailing four quarters and missed in one, delivering an average surprise of 0.76%.

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Let’s delve deeper.

Positive Factors Driving COR’s Prospects

U.S. Healthcare Solutions Shows Momentum: Cencora’s U.S. Healthcare Solutions business is showing accelerating underlying momentum, particularly in specialty. Fiscal third-quarter revenues rose 5% to $74.9 billion, while segment operating income increased 16% to $966 million. Specialty strength across health systems, physician practices and MSOs drove the improvement, with OneOncology and RCA outperforming expectations.

Excluding the lost oncology customer and OneOncology’s contribution, core operating income still grew at a double-digit rate, versus 7% in the prior quarter. The company also expects fourth-quarter results to deliver strong double-digit growth as it fully laps the oncology customer loss and benefits from an easier expense comparison. This suggests that underlying demand and execution are strengthening beyond acquisition-related contributions.

OneOncology Offers Significant Runway for Growth: OneOncology is emerging as a meaningful long-term growth platform beyond its initial distribution and GPO benefits. Management said the acquisition is performing modestly above expectations, while its three-phase value-creation plan is progressing through integration, capability sharing and new services. The most attractive opportunity is clinical trials.

OneOncology remains in the early stages of building this business, unlike RCA’s more mature platform. Cencora expects community-based oncology sites to expand trial access and improve patient accrual, creating value for both physicians and pharmaceutical manufacturers. Continued physician additions and tuck-in acquisitions could increase network density, strengthen manufacturer relationships and create higher-value services, potentially making the MSO platform an increasingly important earnings contributor.

Specialty Logistics and International Operations Provide Diversification: Cencora’s specialty logistics and international operations are providing an increasingly diversified earnings stream. International Healthcare Solutions revenues increased 6% to $7.7 billion, while operating income rose 21% as World Courier and European 3PL delivered double-digit operating-income growth.

World Courier is benefiting from stabilization after a challenging fiscal 2025, while 3PL gained from strong renewals and new business wins. These businesses also benefit from specialized capabilities and Cencora’s pharmaceutical-centric positioning that differentiate it from broader logistics competitors.

Although a one-time European pricing-timing benefit will not repeat in the fourth quarter, the underlying specialty logistics pipeline remains healthy, improving the segment’s ability to offset volatility in U.S. pharmaceutical distribution.

GLP-1 Growth and Part B Biosimilars Create Structural Volume Opportunities: GLP-1 demand is becoming an important structural volume driver for Cencora. U.S. Healthcare Solutions recorded a $2.3 billion year-over-year increase in GLP-1 sales, with management indicating approximately 25% growth, broadly in line with expectations.

While GLP-1 products can carry different economics from traditional pharmaceuticals, the rapid expansion increases distribution volumes and reinforces Cencora’s relevance to manufacturers and downstream customers.

The company’s specialty-centric model should benefit from continued pharmaceutical innovation, including biosimilars and complex therapies. Cencora also sees Part B biosimilars as particularly attractive because its distribution, GPO and MSO services provide greater value around physician-administered products, creating a more favorable profit opportunity than Part D switches.

Key Challenges for COR Stock

Drug-price Reductions Continue to Suppress Headline Growth: Manufacturer list-price reductions remain a major drag on Cencora’s headline revenue growth and could continue to obscure underlying operating momentum. In the fiscal third quarter, U.S. Healthcare Solutions revenues were supported by $2.3 billion of incremental GLP-1 sales, but this was more than offset by a $2.4 billion headwind from manufacturer list-price reductions.

The company also absorbed the prior-year loss of an oncology customer and lower sales to a large mail-order customer. Management expects full-year U.S. revenue growth in the lower half of its 4-6% guided range. This highlights the structural challenge of generating revenue growth in a distribution model where lower drug prices can reduce reported sales even when volumes and underlying profitability remain healthy.

MWI Divestiture Could Create Meaningful Earnings Headwind: Cencora’s near-term earnings outlook faces a difficult comparison from the pending MWI Animal Health transaction with Covetrus. Management expects the deal to create an approximately $150 million operating-income headwind within Other if it closes around the midpoint of fiscal 2027, translating into an estimated 35-cent EPS headwind after accounting for the transaction structure. The company has not yet provided a firm closing timetable, as regulatory review remains ongoing.

Although the transaction includes upfront cash, preferred equity and common equity that partially offset the earnings impact, the divestiture would reduce MWI’s reported earnings contribution. Investors therefore face a potential earnings reset in fiscal 2027, even if the core healthcare businesses continue to perform strongly.

Regulatory and Pricing Uncertainty Could Pressure Specialty Economics: Regulatory and pricing uncertainty remains a persistent risk to Cencora’s specialty and distribution economics. Management is assessing proposed changes to 340B and ASP rules, acknowledging that the eventual impact could vary across its broad customer base and is not yet quantifiable.

Cencora believes policymakers are unlikely to reduce physician reimbursement, but the outcome remains dependent on future regulatory decisions. The company expects international revenue growth to slow to approximately 8% as the stronger U.S. dollar weighs on reported results, while a favorable manufacturer price-adjustment timing benefit in European distribution is not expected to repeat in the fourth quarter. These factors increase the risk that favorable current trends normalize faster than underlying volume growth suggests.

Cencora, Inc. Price and Consensus

Cencora, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Cencora, Inc. Quote

Estimate Trend

COR has been witnessing a stable improving revision trend for fiscal 2026. In the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings has moved north 8 cents to $17.79 per share.

The consensus mark for fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 revenues is pegged at $88.09 billion, indicating a 5.2% improvement from the year-ago reported actuals. The bottom-line estimate is pinned at $4.51, implying year-over-year growth of 17.5%.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks from the broader medical space are Globus Medical GMED, Veracyte VCYT and West Pharmaceutical WST.

Globus Medical, currently flaunting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), reported a second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.34, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 19.6%. Revenues of $789.6 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.4%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

GMED has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 12.4%. The company’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 27.9%.

Veracyte, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), reported a second-quarter 2026 adjusted EPS of 54 cents, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 25.6%. Revenues of $150.3 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.1%.

VCYT has an estimated earnings growth rate of 8.4% for 2026. The company’s earnings beat estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 41.8%.

West Pharmaceutical, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present, reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted EPS of $2.37, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 13.9%. Revenues of $872.3 million surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.2%.

WST has an estimated long-term earnings growth rate of 16%. WST’s earnings surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 17.4%.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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