Raised fiscal 2026 EPS guidance reflects confidence in execution
Guidance tone
Cencora delivered strong Q3 results driven by US segment, specialty growth and the One Oncology acquisition. The company is raising full-year guidance due to strong execution and is providing confidence in its long-term growth strategy. US Healthcare Solutions revenue was $74.9B (+5%), driven by strength in specialty across health systems and physician practices; operating income up 16% to $966M.
Cencora delivered strong Q3 results driven by US segment, specialty growth and the One Oncology acquisition. The company is raising full-year guidance due to strong execution and is providing confidence in its long-term growth strategy. US Healthcare Solutions revenue was $74.9B (+5%), driven by strength in specialty across health systems and physician practices; operating income up 16% to $966M.
Guidance tone
US Healthcare Solutions revenue was $74.9B (+5%), driven by strength in specialty across health systems and physician practices; operating income up 16% to $966M.
Reported gross margin was 4.26%, reinforcing the quarter's better-than-guided profitability.
One Oncology and RCA MSO platforms are performing ahead of expectations, with One Oncology contributing to accelerated growth.
Management discussed using AI in demand forecasting to better anticipate product needs across their network and improve planning, product availability, and service reliability.
Management noted strong specialty demand across health systems and physician practices, with sequential rebound in utilization trends from the March quarter, and continued GLP-1 sales growth of $2.3 billion year-over-year.
Management expressed confidence in execution and raised guidance, citing strong performance and durable growth drivers.
“when excluding one oncology, we expect to see the strongest organic growth of the year at the midpoint of our guidance.”
“In the quarter, our European distribution business continued to benefit from the shift in timing of manufacturer price adjustments in a developing market country, again in the third quarter.”
“Part D, much less so, but still good, even though we'll have a revenue pressure from time to time with those switches. But Part B will always be good”
“There is a meaningful clinical trial activity within one oncology, but there's significant opportunity for growth.”
“any discounts that are paid from the manufacturer to the government actually are not going to flow through reimbursement or impact ASP.”
| Показатель | Период | Диапазон | Середина | Статус |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | FY2026 | $17.75–$17.95 | $17.85 | RAISED |
| Op marginUS_HEALTHCARE_SOLUTION | FY2026 | 14.5%–15.5% | 15% | RAISED |
| Op marginINTERNATIONAL_HEALTHCARE | FY2026 | 9% | 9% | MAINTAINED |
| RevenueINTERNATIONAL_HEALTHCARE | FY2026 | 8% | 8% | LOWERED |
Cencora management notes that biosimilar switches in Part D are causing revenue pressure but only marginal profit growth, whereas Part B switches provide significant upside due to the profitable wraparound services. — Indicates a significant pricing power shift and profit opportunity for Cencora as Part B biosimilar launches continue, and is a negative signal for innovator drug pricing power.
“European distribution business continued to benefit from the shift in timing of manufacturer price adjustments in a developing market country”
… Healthcare Solutions segment. International Healthcare Solutions revenue was $7.7 billion, up 6%, on both an as-reported and constant currency basis, driven by growth in our European distribution and specialty logistics businesses, World Courier and European 3PL. In the quarter, International Healthcare Solutions operating income was $166 million, up 21% on an as reported basis and up 23% on a constant currency basis. In the quarter, our European distribution business continued to benefit from the shift in timing of manufacturer price adjustments in a developing market country, again in the third quarter. and there was strength across our global specialty logistics and European 3PL businesses that delivered double-digit operating income growth. Moving to other, which reflects the businesses for which we are pursuing strategic alternatives. Revenue in other was $2.3 billion, up 7%, largely due to growth at Pro Pharma and MWI Animal Health. Operating income was $109 million, up 25% due to operating income growth at MWI Animal Health, which also benefited from being accounted for as held for sale. That completes the review of our segment level results. I'll now discuss our updated …
After lapping customer losses, the US segment expects its strongest organic growth of the year in the fiscal fourth quarter, implying a significant decoupling from broader macro trends. — This suggests market share gains or durable tailwinds in the US specialty distribution market.
Good morning and thanks for taking the questions. I want to follow up on the strength in the US healthcare solutions business. I think if we look at the sequential improvement and growth, you talked about, well, obviously weather was an impact in 2Q. I think if you X that out, the rebound was maybe a little bit stronger than we expected. Is there anything else to call out As you think about the pockets of strength from your fiscal 2Q or that calendar 1Q quarter going in the calendar 2Q, was there any one-time dynamic around the IRA that impacted 1Q that is now normalized? Trying to understand if there's anything there that was maybe one time in that calendar 1Q that may be abating now. and…
Thanks. Yeah, thanks for the question. For fiscal quarter Q2 to Q3, really the driver of the acceleration was the underlying strength in the utilization as we called out. relative to the prior quarter. I would also note, you know, as you look forward to Q4, our Q4 implied guidance also implies strong double-digit growth across our reportable segments. And as you think about that in the U.S., we'll have fully lapped the one oncology customer loss and we'll have an easier expense comp. But when excluding one oncology, we expect to see the strongest organic growth of the year at the midpoint of our guidance. So just underlying continued momentum of the business strength and international as well. And I'll turn it over to Bob for the 340B. Yeah.
Cencora management notes that biosimilar switches in Part D are causing revenue pressure but only marginal profit growth, whereas Part B switches provide significant upside due to the profitable wraparound services. — Indicates a significant pricing power shift and profit opportunity for Cencora as Part B biosimilar launches continue, and is a negative signal for innovator drug pricing power.
Oh, yeah. Thanks, and good morning, and thank you for taking the question. Hey, Bob, I also wanted to follow up on the strength that you saw in the U.S. healthcare operating profit this quarter, and to that end, I wanted to focus a bit more on the specialty business. You know, back in the March quarter, you know, the company called out some weather-related disruptions, but This quarter in the prepared remarks, you're specifically calling out RCA and what oncology is doing better than expected, kind of implying that you've seen some reacceleration this quarter. And I want to separate specialty into Part B versus Part B, as I think there's a very important distinction here, and I suspect…
… and it is important on a lot of levels and I appreciate the opportunity to explain. So we absolutely did call out the acceleration of the businesses in RCA and 1onc and the market absolutely performed well and we have these amazing platforms in RCA and 1oncology that certainly were meeting the needs of patients through that market acceleration, and we believe we'll continue to do so. And Eva can spend a little bit more time on kind of expectations and kind of where we were relative to those. But I do want to spend a minute on the biosimilar part of your question and the kind of Part D versus Part T, because I do think it's important for everyone to understand how we think about it. I'll start with Part D and, you know, well, maybe I'll start with biosimilars are good. Biosimilars are good for patients. They're good for cost. They're good for patient access. And so anywhere in our business, it's an incremental positive from a profit standpoint. In Part D, it's less so because we provide less services, less wraparound services in the Part DeSpace when a product goes from a innovator brand to a biosimilar. And as we saw last quarter with our large mail order customer, that may be insourced. And so then we have the revenue decrease, but not a meaningful profit increase. So when we think about the Part D space, biosimilars are good, incrementally positive. For Part B, it's much more important, as you alluded to, and that is because the Part B buy-and-bill infusion space, which is where our MSOs, where our distribution and GPOs have such a long history of supporting physicians. And within that history, and I talked about distribution, GPO and the MSO, and when we talk about wraparound services, those are all the things that we do to support those products coming to market from a physician perspective, I mean, from a manufacturer perspective, and then support the physicians in understanding how they may choose to use those products. So that's, therefore, there's a larger profit opportunity because we play a bigger role in how they're assessed and utilized. So we should think, again, kind of all the way back, biosimilars are good for Sankora. Part D, much less so, but still good, even though we'll have a revenue pressure from time to time with those switches. But Part B will always be good, and we feel very confident about the durability of that over the long term.