Cardinal Health holds the cleaner structural position, with the lead spread across profitability and growth. UnitedHealth 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 UnitedHealth'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.
The clearest separation starts in profitability, but growth adds another real layer to the result. The overall score gap is 19 points in favour of Cardinal Health, Inc..
These two companies are linked by measured long-term financial trajectory similarity within the selected peer universe.
A solid similarity means the pair shares a clearly comparable long-term financial profile, even if individual dimensions still differ.
Most of the shared profile comes through investment intensity and margin consistency.
Scores reflect position relative to comparable companies with similar long-term financial trajectories.
Score differences across key dimensions.
Left means cheaper relative valuation. Higher means stronger structure.
Cardinal Health, Inc. holds the stronger structural profile, but the price setup still leans toward UnitedHealth Group Incorporated.
Valuation position uses peer-relative PE percentile (idx_pct_pe) where available.
Capital efficiency adds support, with a 40-point ROIC advantage.
Absolute pricing still looks more supportive for UnitedHealth, with a forward P/E that is 5.5 turns lower there.
The lead is built on both profitability and growth — though valuation still provides a counterweight.
Break down the CAH vs UNH comparison across all dimensions with the full interactive tool.
Explore how CAH and UNH 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.
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.
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.