Media: Ellen Barry Investors: Lisa Capodici (614) 553-3858 (614) 757-5035 ellen.barry@cardinalhealth.com lisa.capodici@cardinalhealth.com Cardinal Health Reports Third-quarter Results for Fiscal Yea

Cardinal Health Reports Third-quarter Results for Fiscal Year 2018

DUBLIN, Ohio, May 3, 2018 - Cardinal Health (NYSE: CAH) today reported third-quarter fiscal year 2018 revenue of $33.6 billion, an increase of 6 percent. The company also reported a decline in GAAP operating earnings of 10 percent to $546 million and a decrease in GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) of 33 percent to $0.81. Non-GAAP operating earnings increased 3 percent to $781 million, while non-GAAP diluted EPS decreased 9 percent to $1.39.

"Our non-GAAP operating earnings came in largely as expected this quarter. However, our non-GAAP EPS was adversely affected by a significant negative change in our effective tax rate primarily associated with our Cordis business," said Mike Kaufmann, Chief Executive Officer of Cardinal Health. "Our team is moving aggressively to address our operational and supply chain issues at Cordis. Under the leadership of our new Medical Segment CEO, Jon Giacomin, we are implementing a series of initiatives to improve those operations and drive greater efficiencies. While these initiatives will take some time, we remain confident in the potential of this business and the value it provides to cardiovascular patients."

Mr. Kaufmann continued, "We have an exceptional portfolio of assets, a tremendously talented and dedicated organization, and a critical position in the delivery of global healthcare. We look forward to building on this incredibly strong foundation to drive future performance and increase value for our shareholders."

During the three months ended March 31, 2018 and 2017, GAAP effective tax rates were 45.1 percent and 32.3 percent, respectively, and non-GAAP effective tax rates were 37.5 percent and 32.3 percent, respectively.

This quarter's higher effective tax rates are attributable to unfavorable discrete items and a significant negative impact from the reduction in Cordis income. Both unfavorable items were partially offset by the lower U.S. federal income tax rate due to the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Additionally, the effective tax rates in the third quarter of fiscal year 2017 were positively affected by discrete items.

The company does not provide GAAP EPS outlook because it is unable to reliably forecast most of the items that are excluded from GAAP EPS to calculate non-GAAP EPS. These items could cause EPS to differ materially from non-GAAP EPS. See "Use of Non-GAAP Measures" following the attached schedules for additional explanation.

The company revised its outlook for fiscal 2018 non-GAAP EPS to $4.85-$4.95 from $5.25-$5.50. This new guidance reflects the company's updated view on the performance of Cordis and its negative effect on the tax rate. The company will offer commentary for fiscal year 2019 during its earnings call today and expects to provide specific guidance when it reports year-end results in August.

Pharmaceutical segment

Third-quarter revenue for the Pharmaceutical segment increased 5 percent to $29.7 billion due to sales growth from pharmaceutical and specialty distribution customers. This was partially offset by the previously announced expiration of a large, mail-order customer contract and the divestiture of the company's China distribution business.

Segment profit decreased by 3 percent to $596 million which reflects a modest, negative impact from the company's generic program performance.

Third-quarter revenue for the Medical segment increased 15 percent to $3.9 billion, which was driven primarily by the acquisition of the Patient Recovery business.

Segment profit increased 34 percent to $199 million, driven by contributions from acquisitions. This was partially offset by performance in Cordis and, to a lesser extent, other Cardinal Health Branded products.

Additional third-quarter and recent highlights

Cardinal Health will host a webcast today at 8:30 a.m. Eastern to discuss third-quarter results. To access the webcast and corresponding slide presentation, go to the Investor Relations page at ir.cardinalhealth.com. No access code is required.

Presentation slides and a webcast replay will be available on the Cardinal Health website at ir.cardinalhealth.com until May 2, 2019.

About Cardinal Health

Cardinal Health, Inc. is a global, integrated healthcare services and products company, providing customized solutions for hospitals, healthcare systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories and physician offices worldwide. The company provides clinically proven medical products, pharmaceuticals and cost-effective solutions that enhance supply chain efficiency from hospital to home. Cardinal Health connects patients, providers, payers, pharmacists and manufacturers for integrated care coordination and better patient management. To help combat prescription drug abuse, the company and its education partners created Generation Rx, a national drug education and awareness program. Backed by nearly 100 years of experience, with approximately 50,000 employees in nearly 60 countries, Cardinal Health ranks #15 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit cardinalhealth.com, follow @CardinalHealth on Twitter, @cardinalhealthwings on Facebook and connect on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/ company/cardinal-health.

Cardinal Health uses its website as a channel of distribution for material company information. Important information, including news releases, financial information, earnings and analyst presentations, and information about upcoming presentations and events is routinely posted and accessible on the Investor Relations page at ir.cardinalhealth.com. In addition, the website allows investors and other interested persons to sign up automatically to receive e-mail alerts when the company posts news releases, SEC filings and certain other information on its website.

Cautions Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements addressing expectations, prospects, estimates and other matters that are dependent upon future events or developments. These statements may be identified by words such as "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "will," "should," "could," "would," "project," "continue," "likely," and similar expressions, and include statements reflecting future results or guidance, statements of outlook and expense accruals. These matters are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated or implied. These risks and uncertainties include competitive pressures in Cardinal Health's various lines of business; the amount or rate of pharmaceutical price appreciation or deflation and the timing of and benefit from generic pharmaceutical introductions; the ability to maintain the benefits from the generic sourcing venture with CVS Health; risks associated with our ability to improve the performance of our Cordis business; risks associated with the acquisition of the Patient Recovery Business, including the ability to successfully integrate the acquired businesses into our operations and the ability to achieve the expected synergies as well as accretion in earnings; the risk of non-renewal or a default under one or more key customer or supplier arrangements or changes to the pricing or other terms of, or level of purchases under those arrangements; uncertainties due to government health care reform including proposals to modify or repeal the Affordable Care Act; uncertainties with respect to the recently enacted Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; changes in the distribution patterns or reimbursement rates for health care products and services; risks associated with the distribution of opioids, including ongoing investigations and lawsuits by certain governmental and regulatory authorities, the potential financial impact of enacted and proposed taxes or other assessments on the sale of opioids, and potential reputational or operational harm; and changes in foreign currency rates and the cost of commodities such as oil based resins, cotton, latex and diesel fuel. Cardinal Health is subject to additional risks and uncertainties described in Cardinal Health's Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K reports and exhibits to those reports. This news release reflects management's views as of May 3, 2018. Except to the extent required by applicable law, Cardinal Health undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement.

Cardinal Health, Inc. and Subsidiaries

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Earnings (Unaudited)

Cardinal Health, Inc. and Subsidiaries

Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited)

Cardinal Health, Inc. and Subsidiaries

Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited)

Cardinal Health, Inc. and Subsidiaries

1Segment profit includes a $64 million impact from the roll-out of the inventory fair value step up related to the Patient Recovery acquisition for the nine months ended March 31, 2018. Excluding the impact of the inventory fair value step up, Medical segment profit would have increased 41% for the nine months ended March 31, 2018.

Cardinal Health, Inc. and Subsidiaries

GAAP / Non-GAAP Reconciliation1

1For more information on these measures, refer to the Use of Non-GAAP Measures and Definitions schedules.

2attributable to Cardinal Health, Inc.

3Reflects the estimated net transitional benefit from the re-measurement of our deferred tax assets and liabilities partially offset by the repatriation tax on cash and earnings of foreign subsidiaries. We have not yet completed our analysis of the impact of the Tax Act and, as such, these amounts are provisional estimates and we may record additional provisional amounts or adjustments to the provisional amounts in future periods.

4Non-GAAP EPS for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2018 includes a $0.13 and $0.33 benefit from applying a lower federal tax rate to our year-to-date U.S. pre-tax non-GAAP earnings. Excluding this benefit, non-GAAP EPS would have been $1.26 and $3.66 for the three and nine months ended March 31, 2018, respectively.

The sum of the components may not equal the total due to rounding.

We generally apply varying tax rates depending on the item's nature and tax jurisdiction where it is incurred.

Cardinal Health, Inc. and Subsidiaries

Use of Non-GAAP Measures

This earnings release contains financial measures that are not calculated in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP").

In addition to analyzing our business based on financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP, we use these non-GAAP financial measures internally to evaluate our performance, engage in financial and operational planning, and determine incentive compensation because we believe that these measures provide additional perspective on and, in some circumstances are more closely correlated to, the performance of our underlying, ongoing business. We provide these non-GAAP financial measures to investors as supplemental metrics to assist readers in assessing the effects of items and events on our financial and operating results on a year-over-year basis and in comparing our performance to that of our competitors. However, the non-GAAP financial measures that we use may be calculated differently from, and therefore may not be comparable to, similarly titled measures used by other companies. The non-GAAP financial measures disclosed by us should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP, and the financial results calculated in accordance with GAAP and reconciliations to those financial statements set forth below should be carefully evaluated.

Exclusions from Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Management believes it is useful to exclude the following items from the non-GAAP measures presented in this earnings release for its own and for investors' assessment of the business for the reasons identified below:

The tax effect for each of the items listed above, other than the transitional tax benefit item, is determined using the tax rate and other tax attributes applicable to the item and the jurisdiction(s) in which the item is recorded. The gross, tax and net impact of each item are presented with our GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliations.

Forward Looking Non-GAAP Measures

In this earnings release, the Company presents its outlook for fiscal 2018 non-GAAP EPS. The Company does not provide EPS outlook, which is the most directly comparable GAAP measure to non-GAAP EPS, because changes in the items that the Company excludes from EPS to calculate non-GAAP EPS, described above, can be dependent on future events that are less capable of being controlled or reliably predicted by management and are not part of the Company's routine operating activities. Additionally, due to their unpredictability, management does not forecast many of the excluded items for internal use and therefore cannot create or rely on an EPS outlook.

The timing and amount of any of the excluded items could significantly impact the Company's fiscal 2018 EPS. Over the past five fiscal years, the excluded items have lowered the Company's EPS from $0.47 to $2.76, which includes a goodwill impairment charge of $2.32 per share related to our Nuclear Pharmacy Services division that we recognized in fiscal 2013. For the nine months ending March 31, 2018, the excluded items have increased the Company's EPS by $0.51, which includes a $2.88 net transitional tax benefit related to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Growth rate calculation: growth rates in this earnings release are determined by dividing the difference between current-period results and prior-period results by prior-period results.

Non-GAAP operating earnings: operating earnings excluding (1) LIFO charges/(credits), (2) restructuring and employee severance, (3) amortization and other acquisition-related costs, (4) impairments and (gain)/loss on disposal of assets and (5) litigation (recoveries)/charges, net.

Non-GAAP earnings before income taxes: earnings before income taxes excluding (1) LIFO charges/(credits), (2) restructuring and employee severance, (3) amortization and other acquisition-related costs, (4) impairments and (gain)/loss on disposal of assets, (5) litigation (recoveries)/charges, net and (6) loss on extinguishment of debt.

Non-GAAP effective tax rate: (provision for income taxes adjusted for (1) LIFO charges/(credits), (2) restructuring and employee severance, (3) amortization and other acquisition-related costs, (4) impairments and (gain)/loss on disposal of assets, (5) litigation (recoveries)/charges, net, (6) loss on extinguishment of debt, and (7) transitional tax benefit, net) divided by (earnings before income taxes adjusted for the first six items).

Non-GAAP net earnings attributable to Cardinal Health, Inc.: net earnings attributable to Cardinal Health, Inc. excluding (1) LIFO charges/(credits), (2) restructuring and employee severance, (3) amortization and other acquisition-related costs, (4) impairments and (gain)/loss on disposal of assets, (5) litigation (recoveries)/charges, net, (6) loss on extinguishment of debt, each net of tax, and (7) transitional tax benefit, net.

Non-GAAP diluted EPS attributable to Cardinal Health, Inc.: non-GAAP net earnings attributable to Cardinal Health, Inc. divided by diluted weighted-average shares outstanding.