Concerns about competition from e-commerce giant Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) have rattled several sectors recently, including shipping stocks. Today, the shares of several healthcare suppliers are lower on reports that Amazon is aiming to be a major hospital supplier (subscription required). Against this backdrop -- not to mention buzz about a big pharmacy merger in the works -- McKesson Corporation (NYSE:MCK) and Cardinal Health Inc (NYSE:CAH) stocks are in the red out of the gate.
MCK stock was last seen 3.5% lower at $143.76. From its October lows to its annual high of $178.86 in late January, the shares had surged more than 33%. However, McKesson stock has surrendered the majority of those gains already in February, dropping 14.8% and pacing for their worst month since October 2016.
Should analysts change their tune, a round of downgrades could exacerbate selling pressure on MCK. Of the 14 analysts following the shares, more than half maintain "buy" or "strong buy" opinions, with not a "sell" rating in sight.
Cardinal Health stock is 4.4% lower to trade at $65.01. The stock has been in a channel of lower highs and lows since peaking in early 2015, and is down 14.2% since its most recent high of $75.75 tagged late last month. CAH shares are now facing resistance from their descending 200-day moving average, and have surrendered 9.4% so far in February -- set for their worst month since August 2017.
Unlike MCK, most analysts are already in the bears' corner when it comes to Cardinal Health. In fact, just one of the 13 brokerages following CAH deem it worthy of a "buy" or better rating.
Options traders considering speculating on CAH's short-term trajectory should note the stock's elevated Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 90. This indicates that Cardinal Health shares have exceeded options traders' volatility expectations during the past year -- a boon to would-be premium buyers.