CARDINAL

Cardinal attributed the disappointing earnings to a higher-than-expected tax rate related to its Cordis unit, which it acquired from Johnson & Johnson in 2015.

The medical-devices enterprise, specializing in cardiovascular and endovascular products, does about 70 percent of its business outside the U.S.

Cardinal said its earnings would have been in line with analysts’ expectations if not for Cordis.

Cordis’ performance also prompted Cardinal to significantly cut its outlook for its 2018 fiscal year, which runs through June.

Cardinal lowered its profit estimate to a range of $4.85 to $4.95 per share from $5.25 to $5.50.

Cardinal CEO Mike Kauffman said the company is “aggressively” addressing operational and supplychain issues that have made Cordis a laggard in terms of performance for months.

But he warned that it probably will be a year before the turnaround is complete.

Meanwhile, analysts expressed some frustration with the results.

“This report certainly disappointed,” said Baird analyst Eric W. Coldwell in a report issued shortly after the earnings announcement, which came before the opening of the stock market Thursday. He said the “better” pharmaceutical outlook was offset by the “much worse” medical segment, although he maintained his “neutral” rating on the stock.

In an interview, Kaufmann said Cardinal remains bullish on Cordis’ longer-term outlook.

He also emphasized that “we still feel really good about our business. We have a ton of things that are really going well.”

He noted strong performance in Cardinal’s nuclear pharmacy business, which involves radioactive materials used in nuclearmedicine procedures, and in its specialty pharmaceutical business, which handles drugs used in oncology, urology and other specialty areas.

Cardinal, one of the three dominant drug distributors in the country and a maker of medical devices, is Ohio’s largest company by revenue.