Cardinal Health Inc. said its non-GAAP net earnings for the fiscal second quarter ended Dec. 31, 2017, came to $1.51 per share, compared with the S&P Capital IQ consensus normalized EPS estimate of $1.16 per share.
EPS climbed 12.7% year over year from $1.34.
Aggregate non-GAAP net earnings were up 11.9% to $478.0 million on an annual basis.
Revenue climbed 6.1% year over year to $35.19 billion from $33.15 billion in the comparable, year-ago quarter.
On a GAAP basis, the company posted a profit of $1.05 billion, or $3.33 per share, which compares to $324.0 million, or $1.34 per share, in the same quarter of the last fiscal year.
GAAP results account for an $894 million benefit related to the recently passed U.S. tax reform.
Guidance for fiscal 2018
The Dublin, Ohio-based company raised its guidance for fiscal 2018 and expects to target non-GAAP EPS of $5.25 to $5.50 to account for a 40 cents per share benefit related to the U.S. tax reform.
The S&P Capital IQ normalized EPS consensus estimate for fiscal 2018 is $5.16.
Cardinal Health was previously targeting $4.85 to $5.10 in non-GAAP EPS.
Additionally, the Cardinal board approved a $1 billion share repurchase program. With this new authorization, Cardinal Health is now authorized to repurchase up to $1.3 billion of its common shares.
The program expires Dec. 31, 2020.
