CAHCardinal Health, Inc.

Cardinal Health is the third of the large pharmaceutical distributors, and it also manufactures medical products.

Distribution works on the same logic as its competitors': enormous turnover, fractions of a per cent in margin, profit from logistics and inventory turns. The main customers are pharmacy chains and hospital systems, and losing one large contract visibly changes volume.

The second part is in-house manufacturing of medical consumables: gloves, gowns, procedure kits. It carries better margins than distribution but depends on raw material prices and Asian logistics, and it is what produced losses during periods of freight inflation.

A specific factor is opioid settlements with payments spread over years. The company has spent years cutting costs and simplifying its portfolio. Cardinal Health pays a dividend with a long payment history.