Cencora, Inc. (NYSE:COR) reported first-quarter fiscal 2026 results on Wednesday that showed stronger-than-expected earnings, while revenue narrowly missed Wall Street projections. The pharmaceutical services group also lifted its full-year adjusted operating income outlook.
Shares slipped 0.21% in pre-market trading following the announcement, as investors weighed the mixed performance.
Adjusted earnings per share for the quarter ended December 31, 2025, reached $4.08, ahead of the $4.04 analyst consensus and up 9.4% from $3.73 a year earlier. Revenue increased 5.5% year over year to $85.9 billion, just below the $86.02 billion expected by the market.
“Cencora began fiscal 2026 by delivering strong financial performance and advancing our strategy through the acquisition of OneOncology,” said Robert P. Mauch, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cencora.
The U.S. Healthcare Solutions division, which represents the majority of group revenue, recorded a 5% increase in sales to $76.2 billion, supported by overall market expansion and higher specialty product volumes sold to health systems and physician practices. The International Healthcare Solutions business posted faster growth, with revenue rising 9.6% to $7.6 billion.
Reflecting the contribution from the OneOncology acquisition and solid momentum in its U.S. operations, Cencora raised its fiscal 2026 adjusted operating income growth forecast to a range of 11.5% to 13.5%, up from the previous 8% to 10%. The company maintained its full-year adjusted EPS guidance of $17.45 to $17.75, broadly in line with analyst expectations of $17.59.
Gross profit climbed 20.1% year on year to $3.1 billion, with the gross margin improving to 3.58% from 3.14% in the prior-year quarter.
“As we continue to advance our leadership in specialty and execute our pharmaceutical-centric strategy, we are well positioned to drive continued value for all our stakeholders and deliver on our purpose,” Mauch added.
Cencora’s board also declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.60 per share, payable on March 2, 2026, to shareholders of record as of February 13, 2026.
Boston Scientific’s fourth-quarter profit and sales climbed but the medical-device maker issued a soft forecast for the year, sending shares down in premarket trading.
The company logged earnings of $672 million, or 45 cents a share, up from $562 million, or 38 cents a share, a year earlier.
Adjusted earnings rose to 80 cents a share compared with mean analyst estimates of 78 cents a share as per FactSet.
Sales rose 16% to $5.29 billion, edging the average Wall Street forecast of $5.28 billion, according to FactSet. Sales at its cardiovascular unit rose 18% to $3.48 billion, while MedSurg sales increased 12% to $1.81 billion.
Shares recently slipped 10.3% to $82.22 premarket.
For the first quarter, Boston Scientific is targeting adjusted earnings in a range between 78 cents and 80 cents a share, with sales growth of about 10.5% to 12%, or 8.5% to 10% on an organic basis, excluding the impact of skew factors such as acquisitions and foreign exchange. Analysts currently expect first-quarter adjusted earnings at 80 cents a share.
For 2026, the company forecast adjusted earnings in a range between $3.43 and $3.49 a share, up from $3.06 a share in 2025, compared with analysts’ estimates of $3.47 a share. Boston Scientific anticipates sales growth of 10.5% to 11.5% for the year, or 10% to 11% on an organic basis.
Last month, Boston Scientific agreed to a $15 billion deal to acquire thrombectomy company Penumbra in a bid to enter new, fast-growing segments within the vascular space.
The US-Iran nuclear talks scheduled for Friday were canceled due to the Iranian side's refusal to engage in non-nuclear issues, Axios reported on Wednesday, citing US officials.
The European Parliament voted to "resume work" on implementing atrade dealwith the United States, chair of Parliament's International Trade Committee Bernd Lange announced on Wednesday.
"A majority of shadow rapporteurs of the International Trade Committee have today decided to resume work on the two Turnberry legislative proposals. A vote could therefore potentially take place at the next committee meeting on Tuesday 24 February," Lange added in a statement.
The ratification of the deal, agreed in July, was paused in late January over US President Donald Trump's demand to acquire Greenland. That agreement lowered US levies on most European goods to 15% from the 30% Trump originally threatened as part of his "Liberation Day" wave of penalties in April. In return, Europe promised to invest in the US and implement measures on the continent that would boost US exports.
The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced on Wednesday that it will release the January inflation report on February 13, rather than on February 11, following apartial government shutdown.
The agency also stated that its update on employment, previously rescheduled for February 6, will be published on February 11 after all.
The BLS added that the reports on job openings and real earnings will be released on February 5 instead of February 3, and February 13 instead of February 11, respectively.
United States President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order in the coming days appointing Vice President JD Vance to lead a new White House anti-fraud task force targeting welfare abuses in California and other states, CBS News reported on Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the plans.
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chairman Andrew Ferguson is set to serve as vice chair and oversee day-to-day operations. The task force would also include Colin McDonald, Trump's pick for a newly created role of Justice Department assistant attorney general for national fraud enforcement position, working closely with Vance and Ferguson while reporting within the Department of Justice (DOJ) leadership under Attorney General Pam Bondi. Sources said the initiative could bypass existing DOJ fraud units.
The move follows reports of billions of dollars in alleged fraud across unemployment, pandemic aid, and healthcare programs, particularly in California. CBS said the timing of Trump's signature could still change before the month ends.
An unholy alliance is reshaping Los Angeles’ criminal underworld.
Police have told The California Post once-sworn enemies MS-13 and 18th Street have set aside differences and decades of violence to form a “super gang,” cashing in on drugs, extortion and a booming underground casino trade that now rivals narcotics for profitability.
MS-13 and 18th Street have apparently set aside years of warring to form a “super gang,” according to police.LAPD
The gangs are operating under the control of the Mexican Mafia, abandoning traditional tit-for-tat street warfare in favor of profit, coordination and expansion.
Captain Ahmad Zarekani, head of the Los Angeles Police Department Gang and Narcotics Division, revealed gangs are exploiting low police numbers and soft-on-crime laws to grow their operations.
“Gangs that have previous feuds with each other or historically don’t get along are working together,” Zarekani told The Post, adding that the Mexican Mafia has now established it’s own direct links to drug cartels.
MS-13, one of the most violent gangs in the US, is known for committing horrific murders. In one infamous case known as the “mountain murders,” victims had their hearts cut out and were dismembered by machete. Another was choked to death for defacing MS-13 graffiti.
The US Attorney’s Office released photos showing MS-13 members displaying a machete and gang signs during its investigation into a victim whose heart was cut out.US Attorney LA
The 18th Street gang grew from humble Hispanic origins in 1960s LA to a ruthless, multinational killing machine. Members have executed cops, killed women and babies by torching apartment buildings, and once employed a hit man called Crook who’s behind 15 murders.
“They’re more organized than at anytime before and now act like business enterprises,” Zarekani said.
An LAPD gang unit makes an arrest of a suspected gang member.LAPD
“You have our gangs that are dealing narcotics in other states, particularly the East Coast, they send narcotics, they’re involved in human trafficking and they’re in touch with other gangs.”
Hugo Ayon, a detective with the LAPD Gangs and Narcotics Division who has been investigating gangs for 26 years, said intelligence pointing to a gang peace treaty first began circulating after the Covid pandemic ended in 2022.
“We heard rumors on the street that the Mexican Mafia came out and said, ‘No more street fighting, no more gang banging,’ because it’s impacting the bottom line,” Ayon told The Post.
Rumors of a gang peace treaty began swirling after the COVID pandemic ended in California in 2022.LAPD
Now, when traditional rivalries flare up, Ayon said, they are quickly shut down because violence hurts profits, and gangs are now making more money than ever.
“The practice of going out and hunting down your rivals was outlawed by the Mexican Mafia,” he explained.
The alliance spans 239 miles from Bakersfield down to California’s southern border, near Chula Vista. In Los Angeles alone, there are more than 100,000 gang members, roughly a third Ayon said are believed to be working with affiliated rival gangs as Sureños.
While drug trafficking, human trafficking and extortion remain lucrative, Ayon said underground casinos, known as “casitas,” have emerged as a major cash generator.
The illegal gambling dens, packed with slot machines and table games, are typically set up inside vacant apartments and commercial buildings.
Gangsters from different neighborhoods each take on a different role, but all working under one umbrella.
“You’ll have an Avenues gang member doing security, you’ll have an MS-13 guy being the cashier, right, and then you’ll have like a guy, let’s just say 18th Street, picking up the cash,” Ayon told The Post. “Three different neighborhoods, right? Gangsters, that are all working under this Mexican Mafia.”
MS-13 and 18th Street have apparently set aside years of warring to form a “super gang,” according to LAPD.LAPD
The surge in cash and organization has created new challenges for law enforcement, Ayon added, because more money brings more power and influence.
“We’ve heard more rumors of gangsters now paying off people in government,” he said, likening the behavior to the traditional Italian mafia.
As Hispanic gangs work together and expand their criminal enterprises, Ayon said cracking down has become increasingly difficult.
“Are we losing the battle? I’d like to think not,” he said. “But we’re barely holding our heads above water, and we’re getting tired.”
Zarekani said the problem is twofold; staffing shortages and laws that make it harder to hold offenders accountable.
“That’s one of the reasons we see them using the juvenile population to commit their crimes,” he said. “They know the juvenile laws in California mean it’s very hard to hold them accountable.”
“If you possess cocaine in Las Vegas or even Orange County, they’re going to charge you with a felony,” Rahmani told The Post. “Here, it’s not even charged at all.”
Proposition 47, passed in 2014, reduced certain drug possession and property theft crimes under $950 from felonies to misdemeanors.
Those reforms werepartially scaled back in 2024, when voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 36, allowing felony charges for offenders with two or more prior convictions.
Rahmani also pointed to Assembly Bill 109, intended to reduce overcrowding in state prisons, which shifted inmates deemed nonviolent to county jails, often leading to early release because of overcrowding.
“There are some instances, like with women, where they’re serving just 10% of their sentence, or are booked and released, because county jails are so crowded,” he said.
The alliance spans from Bakersfield down to the border, near Chula Vista. LAPD
Ayon said the shortened prison terms have stripped police of leverage when trying to persuade suspects to cooperate.
“We’ve had guys in interview rooms tell us, ‘I’m not going to do any time, I’ll be out in a couple days,'” he said.
Staffing shortages within the LAPD, driven by budget deficits, have compounded the problem.
“Commercial crimes division, juvenile division, robbery, homicide division, everyone has been reduced,” Zarekani said.
“In my division, it’s been reduced drastically. I’d rather not give numbers, but from around 2014, our narcotics unit has been cut by over half.”
During a ride-along with Ayon around downtown Los Angeles, near MacArthur Park, The Post observed at least four people openly lighting pipes to smoke drugs in public.
Asked what the solution is, Ayon said there is no single answer.
Instead, he pointed to hiring more officers, a “change in attitude among some politicians,” and renewed focus on mental health treatment and criminal justice reform laws as a starting point.
