McKesson (MCK)
Forward P/E is 20.80x against a peer median of 16.90x, a ratio of 1.23x — above the 1.15 fair-band ceiling — with trailing P/E 25.82x and PEG 1.63. Latest-quarter revenue grew 7.7% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR), only close to the group pace rather than far above it, and the PEG is above 1.5, so no growth exception applies. Delivered demand check: the Health care distributors group's median growth was 7.2% year over year — demand steady, and this company is growing at about that pace, not fast enough to pay for the premium.
What would change this label: Move to FAIRLY PRICED if the forward P/E compresses to about 19.4x or below (1.15x the peer median) at unchanged estimates, or if revenue growth rises above 15% year over year for two quarters with the PEG falling below about 1.5. Move further from fair value if growth falls below 3% year over year while the forward multiple stays above 20x.
McKesson delivers medicines and medical supplies to pharmacies and hospitals. Its shares cost more than similar distributors — about 21 times expected earnings against about 17 times for peers — even though its sales grow at about the same pace. That makes the shares overvalued.
Both lines start at 100 on 2020-09-01. Over the full window McKesson returned +543.74% and the S&P 500 +118.28% (price returns; dividends not reinvested). Worst peak-to-trough fall for McKesson: -27.2% (2026-03-03 to 2026-05-11). Source: Nasdaq official daily history.
What the label rests on
Forward P/E is 20.80x against a peer median of 16.90x, a ratio of 1.23x — above the 1.15 fair-band ceiling — with trailing P/E 25.82x and PEG 1.63. Latest-quarter revenue grew 7.7% year over year (PRIMARY, EDGAR), only close to the group pace rather than far above it, and the PEG is above 1.5, so no growth exception applies. Delivered demand check: the Health care distributors group's median growth was 7.2% year over year — demand steady, and this company is growing at about that pace, not fast enough to pay for the premium. The company’s forward P/E is 20.8× against a peer median of 16.9×. Its own history: UNVERIFIED — no sourced range available. Sector demand read: Delivered demand check: the Health care distributors group's median latest-quarter revenue growth was 7.2% year over year (SEC filings) — demand steady. This company grew 7.7%, essentially at that pace. Latest-quarter sales growth was +7.7% versus a year earlier (SEC filings).
| Company | Price (Oct 28, 2026) | Forward P/E | Trailing P/E |
|---|---|---|---|
| McKesson (MCK) | $967.71 | 20.8× | 25.8× |
| COR | — | 16.9× | 24.3× |
| CAH | — | 19.6× | 34.2× |
| HSIC | — | 15.0× | 24.8× |
| Peer median | 16.9× |
Multiples: stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026. Peer set chosen by sector; the median is the middle value of the set. The label and its numbers were recorded in the programme’s label registry on Oct 28, 2026 and will be scored at 6 and 12 months.
Sales, profit and cash
Gross margin = gross profit divided by sales, from SEC filings.
Free cash flow = cash from operations minus spending on plant and equipment, both from the company’s SEC cash-flow statement. Gaps are quarters where that spending line is not separately tagged in the filings — shown as gaps, never estimated.
| Quarter | Sales | Gross margin | Net income | EPS (GAAP, diluted) | Free cash flow |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q/E Jun 2026 2026-06-30 | $105.4B | 3.5% | $614M | 5.15 | $-332M |
| Q/E Mar 2026 2026-03-31 | $96.3B | 4.2% | $1.7B | — | $3.3B |
| Q/E Dec 2025 2025-12-31 | $106.2B | 3.5% | $1.2B | 9.59 | $1.1B |
| Q/E Sep 2025 2025-09-30 | $103.2B | 3.4% | $1.1B | 8.92 | $2.3B |
| Q/E Jun 2025 2025-06-30 | $97.8B | 3.4% | $784M | 6.25 | $-1.0B |
| Q/E Mar 2025 2025-03-31 | $90.8B | 4.0% | $1.3B | — | $7.6B |
| Q/E Dec 2024 2024-12-31 | $95.3B | 3.5% | $879M | 6.95 | $-2.5B |
| Q/E Sep 2024 2024-09-30 | $93.7B | 3.5% | $241M | 1.87 | $2.0B |
| Q/E Jun 2024 2024-06-30 | $79.3B | 4.0% | $915M | 7.00 | $-1.5B |
| Q/E Mar 2024 2024-03-31 | $76.4B | 4.7% | $791M | — | $4.0B |
| Q/E Dec 2023 2023-12-31 | $80.9B | 3.9% | $589M | 4.42 | $164M |
| Q/E Sep 2023 2023-09-30 | $77.2B | 4.0% | $664M | 4.92 | $890M |
The last twelve reported quarters. Full 24-quarter history sits in the data pack behind this page. A dash means the figure is not tagged as a standalone quarter in the company’s SEC facts (the usual case is the fourth quarter, which many companies only report inside the full-year filing) — it is missing, not zero.
Earnings: getting better or worse?
Each box is one quarter’s earnings per share (EPS). Green means EPS was higher than the same quarter a year earlier; red means lower; a dash means the figure is not tagged in the filings.
Basis: GAAP diluted EPS from SEC company facts, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
Key facts
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Company (legal name in filings) | MCKESSON CORP |
| Chief executive | Brian Tyler (source: https://www.McKesson.com/siteassets/documents/about-us/leadership/brian-tyler-bio.pdf) |
| Sector | Health Care — Health Care Distributors — distributes medicines and medical supplies to pharmacies and hospitals |
| Share price (Oct 28, 2026) | $967.71 |
| Market value (market cap) | $112.7B — share price times shares outstanding of 116,590,363 (SEC filings; SEC EDGAR dei EntityCommonStockSharesOutstanding (latest)) |
| Sales, last twelve months | $411.0B |
| Net income, last twelve months | $4.6B |
| Free cash flow, last twelve months | $6.4B |
| Latest reported quarter | Q/E Jun 2026 (of 24 quarters in the data pack) |
| Six-year price return vs S&P 500 | +543.74% vs +118.28% |
| Worst peak-to-trough fall | -27.2% (2026-03-03 to 2026-05-11) |
What we could not verify
- TTM GAAP diluted EPS could not be summed from company facts because at least one of the last four quarters (typically Q4) has no standalone tagged EPS; trailing P/E is therefore taken from the labelled secondary source in valuation_label.md.
- Own-history P/E range not yet compiled for this company in the Phase 1 batch run; the label rests on peer-median, growth and PEG evidence.
- Guidance record (each quarter scored against the guidance the company gave the quarter before) is not yet compiled for this company — it is a Phase 2 layer. The earnings strip below therefore uses reported EPS versus a year earlier, which is fully sourced from filings.
The IT factor — the most exciting thing the market is overlooking — is not assessed on an X-Ray page. It belongs to the Deep Dive (Phase 2), where it gets the evidence standard it needs. Leadership-era scoring (the six years split by chief executive) is likewise a Phase 2 layer; this page names the current chief executive only, from a sourced profile.
Sources
- SEC EDGAR submissions — Filing index; company legal name.
https://data.sec.gov/submissions/CIK0000927653.json - SEC EDGAR company facts — Quarterly financial spine: revenue, gross profit, net income, GAAP diluted EPS, operating cash flow, PP&E capex, buybacks, dividends, diluted shares.
https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0000927653.json - Nasdaq official daily history — Daily closes for the company; SPY (assetclass=etf) saved as raw/nasdaq_spy_raw.json over identical dates.
https://api.nasdaq.com/api/quote/MCK/historical?assetclass=stocks - Valuation multiples and peer figures — stockanalysis.com (SECONDARY, S&P Global data), fetched Oct 28, 2026; see valuation_label.md in the data pack.
Conventions: earliest-filed value per period, as first reported; cash-flow years-to-date differenced quarter by quarter; EPS never differenced; free cash flow = operating cash flow minus plant-and-equipment spending. This page is a dated snapshot — updates are new versions, never silent edits.