McKesson Corporation (MCK)

McKesson reported second-quarter results on 4 November 2026, with revenue of $111.0 billion, up 8 percent 1. Adjusted earnings per diluted share, the company's own measure that leaves out certain items, rose 18 percent to $11.68 1. The company raised its full-year range for that measure to $45.60 to $46.40, from $44.20 to $45.00 1.

On 6 October McKesson agreed with the private equity firm CD&R to take Option Care Health, a home infusion provider, private, with McKesson to invest about $1.4 billion for a 49 percent minority stake 2. On 2 November it completed the purchase of Precision Medicine Group, a clinical research and biopharma services business announced at about $2.25 billion 16. It also extended its supply agreement with CVS Health through June 2032 1.

McKesson said it found a cybersecurity incident on 25 August 2026 and had not determined that it was material 3. It later confirmed that data tied to a subset of customers in its cancer and medical-supply units was taken 4. A criminal group, ShinyHunters, claimed the theft and a ransom demand, claims that Help Net Security said were not independently verified 4.

McKesson traces its business roots to 1833 and was incorporated in Delaware on 7 July 1994 5. By the year to March 2021 revenue had reached $238.2 billion, up 3 percent, mostly because the U.S. drug-distribution market grew 8.

In the year to March 2021 the company booked an $8.1 billion charge for opioid-related claims, the lawsuits over how painkillers were distributed 8. That charge produced a loss of $28.26 per diluted share from continuing operations 8. It had also split off its stake in the Change Healthcare joint venture on 10 March 2020 8.

On 1 November 2020 it put its German wholesale business into a joint venture with Walgreens Boots Alliance, keeping a 30 percent interest 8. On 31 October 2022 it completed the sale of its European Union disposal group for cash proceeds of $892 million 9.

On 31 October 2022 it formed SCRI Oncology with HCA, paying $173 million in cash, and on 1 November 2022 it acquired RxSS for $600 million in cash at closing 9. It extended its CVS partnership to June 2027 that year 9. Revenue rose 5 percent in the year to March 2023 9.

Revenue rose 16 percent in the year to March 2025, helped by a new strategic partner onboarded in U.S. Pharmaceutical 10. The company completed the sale of its Canadian retail pharmacies, with fair value remeasurement charges of $667 million, and recorded $298 million of restructuring charges 10. It also received $444 million as its share of antitrust settlements and returned $3.5 billion of cash to shareholders 10.

McKesson and two other national distributors settled opioid claims with 48 states and their participating subdivisions, with $7.9 billion to be paid by 2038 5. Some subdivisions stayed outside it 5. On 28 October 2025 a federal appeals court sent the Cabell County and City of Huntington case back to the trial court 5.

On 1 April 2025 it paid $875 million in cash for 80 percent of PRISM Vision, an eye-care practice manager 5. On 2 June 2025 it paid $2.5 billion for 70 percent of Core Ventures, a Florida cancer-practice services business 5. It completed the sale of its Norway businesses on 30 January 2026 for an adjusted $821 million 5.

Revenue for the year to March 2026 reached $403.4 billion, up 12 percent 5. The company said the rise came mainly from higher volumes from large retail pharmacy customers and from added cancer practices and specialty drug sales 5. Net income attributable to McKesson was $4.76 billion, against $3.30 billion a year earlier 5.

North American Pharmaceutical

The segment is the core wholesale business, and it distributes branded, generic, specialty, biosimilar and over-the-counter drugs to pharmacies, hospitals and clinics in the United States and Canada 5. It runs a network of 27 distribution centers in the U.S. 5. Its Health Mart program serves about 3,900 independently owned pharmacies 5.

In the year to March 2026 the segment's revenue was $336.7 billion, up 11 percent, and its operating profit was $3.66 billion, a margin of 1.09 percent 5. In the second quarter its revenue was $91.4 billion, up 6 percent, and adjusted operating profit rose 22 percent to $1.0 billion 1.

Oncology and Multispecialty

The segment serves cancer and other specialty doctors, distributing specialty drugs and running group purchasing for practices 5. It supports the U.S. Oncology Network of physician-led cancer practices and owns PRISM Vision and a 51 percent interest in the research network SCRI 5. It also includes the Ontada technology business 5.

In the year to March 2026 revenue was $48.4 billion, up 31 percent, as more practices joined and specialty drug sales grew 5. Operating profit was $1.15 billion 5. In the second quarter revenue was $15.0 billion, up 24 percent, and PRISM Vision's network passed 350 providers after adding Spectrum Vision Partners 1.

Prescription Technology Solutions

This business helps patients get and afford medicines, with services such as electronic prior authorization, price transparency and patient enrollment 5. It connects to over 50,000 pharmacies and more than 1,000,000 providers and has supported over 650 biopharma brands 5.

In the year to March 2026 revenue was $5.8 billion, up 11 percent, with a segment margin of 17.98 percent, the highest of the four 5. In the second quarter revenue was $1.5 billion, up 10 percent 1.

Medical-Surgical Solutions

This segment supplies medical and laboratory products to doctors' offices, surgery centers, nursing homes and home health agencies 5. It offers more than 270,000 national brand products and its own line of more than 4,000 products 5. In the year to March 2026 revenue was $11.5 billion, up 1 percent, with an 8.15 percent margin 5.

In the second quarter its revenue was $3.1 billion, up 5 percent, while adjusted operating profit fell 10 percent to $225 million on a weaker product mix in the ambulatory channel 1. The company plans to make this segment an independent company 5.

Customers and rivals

CVS Health was about 24 percent of revenue in the year to March 2026, and the ten largest customers, including purchasing groups, were about 73 percent 5. Its main rivals in distribution are Cencora and Cardinal Health 5.

People, plants and workforce

Brian Tyler has been chief executive since April 2019 and is also chair 51. Kenny Cheung, who came from Sysco, became chief financial officer on 29 May 2026 11. Ramesh Srinivasan became chief strategy officer on 1 August 2026 14.

As of 31 March 2026 McKesson had more than 43,000 employees, about 38,000 of them in the U.S. 5. Its warehouses and offices are spread across North America, and the Medical-Surgical unit runs a center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, that opened in 2019 57.

Current problems: the data theft and opioid claims

The August data theft is still under investigation, and the company says customers need take no action 34. It also remains a defendant in opioid cases from governments that did not join the settlement, which it contests 5.

The umbrella, in words

The main brands are Health Mart for independent pharmacies, SynerGx and OneStop Generics for generic buying programs, and Ontada for cancer technology 5. The 10-K says there is no parent of the company, and its subsidiaries list names McKesson Medical-Surgical Holdings, McKesson Plasma and Biologics and McKesson Specialty Care Distribution among its significant subsidiaries 12.

McKesson owns 80 percent of PRISM Vision, 70 percent of Core Ventures and 51 percent of SCRI 5. It sources generic drugs through the ClarusONE joint venture with Walmart 5.

Funds managed by Apollo agreed on 20 April 2026 to invest about $1.25 billion for a 13 percent minority interest in the Medical-Surgical segment 5. McKesson agreed to invest about $1.4 billion for a 49 percent minority interest in Option Care Health, pending approvals 2.

Vanguard Capital Management reported owning 7.49 percent of the common stock in a Schedule 13G filed on 30 April 2026 13.

McKesson holds its second-quarter call on 4 November 2026 at 4:30 PM Eastern time 1. It lists the Jefferies healthcare conference on 17 November, the Evercore conference on 1 December and the J.P. Morgan conference on 11 to 14 January 2027 1.

The company now guides to fiscal 2027 adjusted earnings per diluted share of $45.60 to $46.40, which it says indicates 17 to 19 percent growth on the prior year 1. It does not forecast the GAAP figure 1.

The Option Care Health deal is expected to close in the first half of calendar 2027, subject to its stockholders' approval and regulators 2. McKesson plans to book its stake under the equity method, and the deal sets a framework for a later McKesson purchase of CD&R's interest, subject to conditions and approvals 2.

A McKesson spokesperson told WFMZ in June that the Medical-Surgical segment anticipates an initial public offering in the second half of calendar 2027, pending market conditions and approvals 7. The 10-K says the separation may be a split-off or spin-off, or both, and the Apollo investment still needs regulatory approvals 5.

On 29 April 2026 the board approved a further $5.0 billion for repurchasing common stock, bringing the total authorization to $7.7 billion 5. In the first six months of the fiscal year the company returned $3.6 billion to shareholders 1.

Option Care Health said it would release third-quarter results on 4 November 2026 without a call and withdrew its earlier guidance 2. McKesson's CVS supply agreement now runs through June 2032, after the earlier extension to June 2027 15.

The company says it is in the early stages of exploring artificial intelligence across the enterprise to improve productivity and efficiency 5. It also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.82 a share, set on 29 July 2025 5.

The company says it will post updates on the data theft on its website 3. Precision Medicine Group will report within the Oncology & Multispecialty segment 6.

Past

McKesson's revenue grew from $199 billion in fiscal 2017 to $403 billion in fiscal 2026, up 8.2% a year, and rose in 9 of 9 years without falling from a peak Net income was positive in 9 of 10 of those years Over the three fiscal years to 2026, the diluted share count shrank about 4.4% a year, and dividends and buybacks returned about 72% of operating cash flow Officers and directors filed 19 sales and 0 purchases of their own stock on the open market in the year to 2026-10-19 McKesson's filings since 2017 show no warning events: no bankruptcy or receivership notice, no debt default notice, no exchange listing notice, no restatement warning, no auditor change, no material cyber incident and no late-report notice 1

Present

For the fiscal year ended 2026-03-31, McKesson reported revenue of $403 billion and a profit of $4.8 billion McKesson's revenue of $403 billion ranks in the top 5% by size among 10 graded names in its industry; a net margin of 1.2% ranks in the top 25%; revenue growth of 13.4% a year over the last three filed years ranks in the top 25% 21

Shareholders' equity was below zero, so return on equity is not read; gross profitability was about 18 cents per dollar of everything the company owns; leverage was about 102 cents per dollar of assets; the share count shrank 3.1% over the year The chief executive is Brian Scott Tyler, filing under that title since 2019-05-23; the 20 officers and directors filing in the last fifteen months have been on the record a median of 4.6 years; 5 officer or director changes were reported on Form 8-K since 2023-10-21 1

Future

A quarterly report for the quarter ending 2026-09-30 is due by 2026-11-09 An annual report for the fiscal year ending 2027-03-31 is due by 2027-05-30 Revenue grew 13.4% a year over the last three filed years against 8.2% over all 10, speeding up; the newest year grew 12.4%; research spending fell 34.5% a year; capital spending grew 3.8% a year McKesson reported 4 lines of business in fiscal 2025: US Pharmaceutical at $328 billion, International at $15 billion, Medical Surgical Solutions at $11 billion, and 1 more; 4 of 4 grew in the latest filed year, and the largest line is 91% of revenue 31

Cash of $4.0 billion against debt of $6.5 billion leaves negative 3.1% of assets as net cash, top 25% of its family; cash from operations less capital spending is 1.4% of revenue; a gross margin of 3.6% ranks in the bottom 25% Revenue of $403 billion in fiscal 2026 came in 1.4% below the $409 billion its prior three years' pace pointed to; net income of $4.8 billion against a prior three-year average of $3.3 billion; a net margin of 1.2% against 1.1% before 1

How the company operates

McKesson operates as a distribution business in the Wholesale-Drugs, Proprietaries and Druggists' Sundries sector US Pharmaceutical generated $328 billion in fiscal 2025, International $15 billion, Medical Surgical Solutions $11 billion, and a fourth line of business generated the remainder The largest line, US Pharmaceutical, is 91% of revenue 21

New moves

On 2026-10-06, McKesson filed a Form 8-K disclosing investor information under Regulation FD On 2026-08-28, McKesson filed a Form 8-K for investor disclosure under Regulation FD On 2026-07-01, McKesson filed a Form 8-K reporting an officer or director change and investor disclosure under Regulation FD On 2026-06-12, McKesson filed a Form 8-K reporting a major agreement signed and new debt or obligation taken on 3