Sifting through countless of stocks in the Health Care Equipment & Supplies industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Baxter International Inc., Cencora or Inc. because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Baxter International Inc., Cencora and Inc. compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Baxter International Inc., Cencora and Inc.

Baxter International Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides a portfolio of healthcare products in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Medical Products & Therapies, Healthcare Systems & Technologies, and Pharmaceuticals. It offers sterile intravenous (IV) solutions; infusion systems and devices; parenteral nutrition therapies; inhaled anesthetics; generic injectable pharmaceuticals; surgical hemostat and sealant products; advanced surgical equipment; smart bed systems; patient monitoring and diagnostic technologies; and respiratory health devices, as well as advanced equipment for the surgical space comprising operating room integration technologies, precision positioning devices, and other accessories. The company also provides specialty injectable pharmaceuticals, inhaled anesthetics, and drug compounding services. Its products are used in hospitals, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, ambulatory surgery centers, doctors’ offices, kidney dialysis centers, and patients at home under physician supervision. The company sells its products through direct sales force, independent distributors, drug wholesalers, and specialty pharmacy or other alternate site providers. It operates in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Asia, Western Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Baxter International Inc. was incorporated in 1931 and is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois.

Cencora, Inc. sources and distributes pharmaceutical products in the United States and internationally. The company’s U.S. Healthcare Solutions segment distributes generic and injectable pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter healthcare products, home healthcare supplies and equipment, and related services to acute care hospitals and health systems, independent and chain retail pharmacies, mail order pharmacies, medical clinics, long-term care and alternate site pharmacies, and other customers; distributes plasma and other blood products, vaccines, and other specialty pharmaceutical products; provides pharmacy management, staffing, and other consulting services; supply management software to retail and institutional healthcare providers; packaging solutions to institutional and retail healthcare providers; clinical trial support, product post-approval, and commercialization support services; data analytics, outcomes research, and other services for biotechnology and pharmaceutical manufacturers; pharmaceuticals, vaccines, parasiticides, diagnostics, micro feed ingredients, and other products to the companion animal and production animal markets; sales force services to manufacturers; and offers other services to physicians who specialize in various disease states, such as oncology, as well as to other healthcare providers, including hospitals and dialysis clinics. Its International Healthcare Solutions segment provides international pharmaceutical wholesale and related service, and global commercialization services; distributes pharmaceuticals, other healthcare products, and related services to pharmacies, doctors, health centers, and hospitals; and offers specialty transportation and logistics services for the biopharmaceutical industry. The company was formerly known as AmerisourceBergen Corporation and changed its name to Cencora, Inc. in August 2023. Cencora, Inc. was founded in 1871 and is headquartered in Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.

Latest Health Care Equipment & Supplies and Baxter International Inc., Cencora, Inc. Stock News

As of September 2, 2026, Baxter International Inc. had a $13.3 billion market capitalization, compared to the Health Care Equipment & Supplies median of $416.1 million. Baxter International Inc.’s stock is up 33.8% in 2026, down 1.4% in the previous five trading days and up 6.33% in the past year.

Currently, Baxter International Inc. does not have a price-earnings ratio. Baxter International Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $11.5 billion with a -9.3% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 5.3%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $2.047 per share for the current fiscal year. Baxter International Inc. currently has a 0.2% dividend yield.

As of September 2, 2026, Cencora, Inc. had a $64.2 billion market cap, putting it in the 95th percentile of all stocks. Cencora, Inc.’s stock is down 0.2% in 2026, up 5% in the previous five trading days and up 14.08% in the past year.

Currently, Cencora, Inc.’s price-earnings ratio is 25.0. Cencora, Inc.’s trailing 12-month revenue is $332.8 billion with a 0.8% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 5.1%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $17.873 per share for the current fiscal year. Cencora, Inc. currently has a 0.7% dividend yield.

How We Compare Baxter International Inc., Cencora and Inc. Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Baxter International Inc., Cencora and Inc.’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Baxter International Inc., Cencora and Inc. Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Baxter International Inc.	BAX	C
Cencora, Inc.	COR	C

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Baxter International Inc. has a Value Score of 48, which is Average. Cencora, Inc. has a Value Score of 45, which is Average.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Baxter International Inc., Cencora or Inc. has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Baxter International Inc., Cencora or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to value.

Baxter International Inc., Cencora and Inc.’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Baxter International Inc.	BAX	C
Cencora, Inc.	COR	D

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Baxter International Inc. has a Quality Score of 59, which is Average. Cencora, Inc. has a Quality Score of 38, which is Weak.

The Quality Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Baxter International Inc., Cencora or Inc. has a high enough Quality Grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolios. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Baxter International Inc., Cencora or Inc. is the better investment when it comes to quality.

Baxter International Inc., Cencora and Inc.’s Estimate Revisions Grades

Company	Ticker	Earnings Estimate
Baxter International Inc.	BAX	B
Cencora, Inc.	COR	C

Earnings estimate revisions scores consider the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, positive surprises beget further positive surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

Estimate revisions offer an indication of what analysts are thinking about the short-term prospects of a firm. Estimate revisions are based on the statistical significance of a firm’s last two quarterly earnings surprises and the percentage change in its consensus estimate for the current fiscal year over the past month and past three months.

Baxter International Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 69, which is Positive. Cencora, Inc. has a Earnings Estimate Score of 55, which is Neutral.

The Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade Winner: Baxter International Inc.

As you can clearly see from the Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade breakdown above, Baxter International Inc. has a better Earnings Estimate Revisions Grade than Cencora, Inc.. For those who are specifically looking for companies with better short-term prospects when compared to other companies in the same industry, Baxter International Inc. could be a good stock to invest in. However, it’s important to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Other Baxter International Inc., Cencora and Inc. Grades

In addition to Estimate Revisions, Value and Quality, A+ Investor also provides grades for Growth and Momentum.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Growth investing builds on the idea that stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth outperform those of slower-growth companies. AAII measures growth through consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations.

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Baxter International Inc., Cencora and Inc. pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Baxter International Inc., Cencora or Inc. Stock?

Overall, Baxter International Inc. stock has a Value Score of 48, Estimate Revisions Score of 69 and Quality Score of 59.

Cencora, Inc. stock has a Value Score of 45, Estimate Revisions Score of 55 and Quality Score of 38.

Comparing Baxter International Inc., Cencora and Inc.’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.