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Stock Comparison · Structural lead, mixed market

Cardinal Health vs Siemens Healthineers: Which Stock Looks Stronger in 2026?

The structural profiles are close, with Cardinal Health carrying a narrow edge on growth. Siemens Healthineers still has the edge on valuation, which keeps the comparison from looking entirely one-sided. On the market side, Cardinal Health is in better shape — its trend is intact while Siemens Healthineers's trend has broken down. That puts structure and market broadly in agreement — Cardinal Health's lead looks more confirmed than conflicted.

The comparison is based on similar long-term financial trajectories, not sector labels. Peer scores are normalised within each company's primary universe (CAH: Russell 1000, SHL.DE: STOXX 600).

Updated 2026-05-17

The clearest separation starts in growth, but profitability adds another real layer to the result.

Trajectory Similarity
0.67
Moderately similar
Peer-set rank: #12
within Siemens Healthineers AG's functional peer set

This pair is matched through long-term financial trajectory similarity within the selected peer universe.

The pair shares a valid long-term profile match, but the trajectories are not especially close.

The clearest structural overlap shows up in investment intensity and margin consistency.

Similarity drivers
investment intensitymargin consistency
What reduces the match
capital structure
How to read the score
0.85–1.00 · Very similar0.70–0.84 · Similar0.55–0.69 · Moderately similarbelow 0.55 · Loose match
Peer-Relative Score
CAH
Cardinal Health, Inc.
60
Peer-Score
Signal qualitylow
Peer basis: Russell 1000
vs
SHL.DE
Siemens Healthineers AG
56
Peer-Score
Signal qualitylow
Peer basis: STOXX 600

Scores reflect position relative to comparable companies with similar long-term financial trajectories.

The largest gaps do not all point in the same direction.

Dimension spread: CAH vs SHL.DE Profitability 63 50 Stability 68 58 Valuation 59 72 Growth 50 37 CAH SHL.DE
Gap Ranking
#1 Growth +13
#2 Profitability +13
#3 Valuation +13
#4 Stability +10
Price Setup

Left means cheaper relative valuation. Higher means stronger structure.

Price setup map for CAH and SHL.DE Stronger + cheaper Stronger + richer Weaker + cheaper Weaker + richer CAHSHL.DE Relative valuation Structural strength

Cardinal Health, Inc. still looks stronger overall, though current pricing looks more supportive for Siemens Healthineers AG.

Valuation position uses peer-relative PE percentile (idx_pct_pe) where available.

Entry today — historical context

Where CAH and SHL.DE each sit in their own 5-year price and valuation history.

BASED ON 5-YEAR HISTORY CAH Elevated · below norm 0th 50th 100th 89 pct gap SHL.DE Lower · below norm 0th 50th 100th 90th 1st
Today SHL.DE sits in the lower portion of its own 5-year history (1st percentile), while CAH sits higher in its own history (90th). Within each stock's own 5-year context, SHL.DE is at a historically more favourable entry position than CAH. This reflects entry timing, not which company is structurally stronger — peer-relative analysis is a separate question addressed above.

Describes historical entry positioning only. Descriptive — not investment advice.

Relative Position vs Comparable Companies
Growth
Cardinal Health, Inc. sits in the stronger part of the group on growth, while Siemens Healthineers AG is closer to mid-pack.
Profitability
Cardinal Health, Inc. sits higher in the group on profitability, adding to the overall structural advantage.
Growth — Dominant Gap
CAH
50
SHL.DE
37
Gap+13in favour of CAH

One company is still expanding while the other is contracting, which creates a very wide growth split.

What keeps the gap from being one-sided

Absolute pricing still looks more supportive for Siemens Healthineers, with a forward P/E that is 3.1 turns lower there.

What this means for the comparison

The lead is built on both growth and profitability — though valuation still provides a counterweight.

Explore full peer positioning in AssetNext

Break down the CAH vs SHL.DE comparison across all dimensions with the full interactive tool.

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Other close comparisons

Explore how CAH and SHL.DE each compare against other companies in their peer groups.

Rule-based, descriptive analysis only. Derived from peer percentile dimensions. Not investment advice. Peer groups are determined algorithmically based on structural similarity — not by sector classification alone.

How AssetNext Peer Scores Work

AssetNext scores reflect each company's structural position within its functional peer group — not a ranking against all stocks simultaneously. Peers are identified by similarity across eight financial dimensions, including revenue growth trajectory, margin structure, capital intensity, and earnings stability. A score of 75 means the company ranks in the top quartile within its own peer group, not the entire market.

Four dimension scores drive the overall peer score: Growth (revenue trajectory and expansion dynamics), Quality (margin structure and capital efficiency), Valuation (peer-relative pricing on standard multiples), and Stability (earnings consistency and financial predictability). Each dimension is scored 0–100 relative to the peer group, then combined into an overall peer score using equal weighting.

Because scores are peer-relative, the same company can have slightly different scores in different index universes. On comparison pages, both companies are shown within their shared peer universe wherever possible — so the scores are directly comparable. The peer basis is stated on each score card.

Scores are recalculated periodically as underlying financial data is updated. All analysis is descriptive and rule-based — AssetNext describes structural realities and never issues buy, sell or hold recommendations.