The Short Answer
Cardinal Health (CAH) is generally halal on the retained business-activity review, with an incomplete product-level review. Its fiscal Q3 2026 filing reports $8,916 million of total debt and finance lease obligations against $56,689 million of assets, producing a 15.73% debt/assets ratio. Liquidity is 6.94% and receivables plus cash are 31.02%, so the examined asset-based financial ratios pass. This is a methodology-based review, not a fatwa or universal certification.
Current quantitative Sharia screen
Based on 10-Q figures for the period ended 2026-03-31; calculated 2026-07-13.
8,916 / 56,689
3,937 / 56,689
17,585 / 56,689
- Financial
- Incomplete
- Overall
- Incomplete
Debt is 15.73%, liquidity is 6.94% and receivables plus cash are 31.02%; the disclosed financial ratios pass, but interest income is not separately quantified and the screened business numerator remains incomplete.
- Financial
- Pass
- Overall
- Incomplete
Debt, liquidity and receivables plus cash pass the examined MSCI total-assets limits, but no universal prohibited-revenue or interest-income numerator is disclosed. This is a calculation against the named method, not an index-membership claim.
- Financial
- Pass
- Overall
- Incomplete
Debt is 15.73% and liquidity is 6.94% of total assets; the healthcare-distribution activity is generally permissible, but screened revenue and interest income remain undisclosed. This is a calculation against SAC ratios, not an official classification of a U.S.-listed security.
- Financial
- Not calculated
- Overall
- Not calculated
A properly licensed and reproducible historical market-cap series is not stored, so these methods are not estimated from a current spot price.
Business-activity disclosure
Cardinal Health operates Pharmaceutical and Specialty Solutions and Global Medical Products and Distribution businesses, including branded and generic pharmaceutical distribution, specialty pharmaceuticals, medical products, surgical and procedural products, home-healthcare distribution, and nuclear and precision-health solutions. These are generally permissible healthcare supply-chain activities at the issuer level.
Limitation: The filing reports broad segment and product categories but does not provide a universal prohibited-revenue numerator by formulation, ingredient, customer, product certification or downstream use. The screen therefore does not invent a percentage for alcohol-containing medicines, pork-derived gelatin capsules or customer end use.
Purification
The healthcare-distribution activity is generally permissible, but the filing does not separately quantify interest income or a universal prohibited-revenue numerator. No fixed purification percentage is asserted.
Inputs, assumptions and primary sources
- Inputs use Cardinal Health's fiscal Q3 2026 Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2026; amounts are USD millions.
- Assets use reported total assets of $56,689 million. Cash and equivalents were $3,937 million, and trade receivables net were $13,648 million.
- Debt uses $8,916 million of current and long-term obligations reported as total debt and finance lease obligations. The filing does not provide a sufficiently clean split for a lower debt-only input, so finance leases are retained conservatively and operating leases are not added.
- No separately disclosed interest-bearing security balance is entered. Cardinal Health is a healthcare distributor and the filing's cash balance is not double-counted as securities.
- Quarterly revenue was $60,940 million for the three months ended March 31, 2026. The filing reports interest expense, net, but does not separately quantify interest income, so no unsupported interest-income percentage is estimated.
- The filing does not allocate a reproducible prohibited-revenue numerator by medicine, customer, product formulation, gelatin source or downstream use. No unsupported haram-revenue percentage is asserted.
This is a reproducible financial screen, not a fatwa. A failed total-assets screen can coexist with a pass under a market-cap methodology. ZakatInvest keeps the qualitative assessment separate so numerical thresholds do not erase material context.
This is a reproducible ZakatInvest calculation from Cardinal Health's March 31, 2026 Form 10-Q. Market-cap denominator methods are not estimated without a licensed historical market-cap series.
Sharia Screening Methodology
Islamic equity screens commonly examine business activity, interest-bearing debt, cash and securities, receivables and separately disclosed non-compliant income. Denominators and thresholds vary by methodology, so the named methods are shown separately rather than collapsed into one unexplained label.
Cardinal Health's Business Activity
Cardinal Health reports two principal segments plus other operating businesses. Pharmaceutical and Specialty Solutions distributes branded and generic pharmaceuticals, specialty pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products and consumer-health products to retail pharmacies, hospitals, physician offices, ambulatory-care centers and other providers. Global Medical Products and Distribution includes at-Home Solutions, medical-products manufacturing, surgical and procedural products, and global medical-products distribution. Other includes nuclear and precision-health solutions and logistics.
Pharmaceutical and medical-products distribution, specialty-pharmaceutical distribution, surgical and procedural products, home-healthcare distribution and precision-health services are generally permissible healthcare supply-chain activities. The filing does not provide a reproducible prohibited-revenue numerator by formulation, ingredient, customer or downstream use, so no unsupported percentage is presented.
Current Quantitative Ratios (March 31, 2026)
- Interest-bearing debt / assets: 15.73% — below the examined 33% limits ✅
- Cash + interest-bearing securities / assets: 6.94% — below the examined liquidity limits ✅
- Receivables + cash / assets: 31.02% — below the examined 50% limit ✅
- Interest income / revenue: Not calculated — the filing reports interest expense, net, but does not separately quantify interest income
- Prohibited-revenue numerator: Not disclosed; product formulation, gelatin source and customer end use remain qualitative review topics
Concerns to Be Aware Of
1. Leverage and working capital
Cardinal Health operates a low-margin distribution model. The current debt/assets ratio passes the examined asset-based limits, but acquisitions, inventory, receivables and debt actions can change the screen quickly.
2. Customer and end-use mix
The customer base includes pharmacies, hospitals, physician offices and ambulatory-care centers. Some downstream medicines may contain alcohol-based ingredients or pork-derived gelatin. Those product-level questions can vary by scholar; the issuer filing does not quantify a corporate prohibited-revenue numerator.
3. Opioid-distribution litigation and stewardship
The fiscal Q3 filing describes the New York opioid assessment history and settlement-related developments. Opioid-distribution litigation, indemnification, patient safety, affordability and access remain important governance and ethical diligence topics even though they are not automatically a corporate Sharia business-screen failure.
4. Interest and purification
Cardinal reports interest expense, net, rather than a separately quantified interest-income line for the quarter. We do not reverse-engineer an interest-income percentage or prescribe a fixed purification amount.
How to Read the Result
CAH passes the examined financial ratios and has a generally permissible healthcare-distribution activity. The overall result remains methodology-dependent because product formulation, end use and interest-income allocation are not fully disclosed. FTSE Yasaar, MSCI total-assets and Malaysia SAC-style calculations are shown separately in the quantitative panel; they are not official index-membership determinations.
Investors should consult a qualified Sharia adviser for their school of jurisprudence and review the next filing for changes to products, acquisitions, debt and receivables.
Bottom Line
Cardinal Health (CAH) is currently generally halal with an incomplete product-level review. Its healthcare distribution and medical-products activities are generally permissible, while the current 15.73% debt/assets, 6.94% liquidity and 31.02% receivables-plus-cash ratios pass the examined asset-based limits.
Healthcare distribution is generally permissible; product-level end use and interest-income allocation remain qualitative review topics.
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