Henry Schein, Inc. (HSIC) Stock Price & How to Invest

Henry Schein sells the products a dental office or a physician's practice consumes every day: consumables, small equipment, implants, orthodontic aligners, endodontic and biomaterial products, plus the software that runs the front desk and the billing. It reports in three pieces. Global Distribution and Value-Added Services is the large, low-margin core that moves other manufacturers' goods to roughly a million customers across dozens of countries. Global Specialty Products covers the higher-margin implant, orthodontic and biomaterials lines the company mostly bought. Global Technology sells practice-management and revenue-cycle software, including the Dentrix family, and carries by far the best economics in the company (segment operating margin of roughly 27% in Q2 2026 on segment operating income of about $49 million). Specialty and technology together contribute around half of operating income on a small fraction of revenue, which is the whole strategic point.

The last three years have been unkind. A 2023 cyberattack knocked out ordering systems, dental patient traffic and equipment purchases stayed soft, and gross margins compressed through 2025. That drew in outside capital: KKR built a roughly 12% position in January 2025 and took two board seats, the standstill ceiling was later raised from 14.9% to 19.9%, and activist Ananym Capital pressed publicly for CEO succession, cost cuts and a review of the medical distribution business. Fred Lowery now runs the company against a restructuring and value-creation program targeting more than $200 million of margin improvement, with charges expected to run through 2027. Q2 2026 was the clearest sign it is working: sales of about $3.5 billion (up roughly 6.7%), internal local-currency growth of about 4.6%, non-GAAP EPS up about 15.5% to roughly $1.27, and raised full-year guidance. At roughly $10.2 billion of market value on about $13.6 billion of trailing revenue, the market is still paying a distributor's price for it.

Distribution economics are thin, so a small swing in product mix or in supplier rebates moves earnings more than revenue growth suggests. Dental consumables and equipment demand depends on discretionary patient visits, and the softness that started in 2023 has not fully cleared. Tariffs and freight on imported dental and medical goods are a live cost input that cannot always be passed through quickly. The company has grown specialty and technology largely by acquisition, which carries integration risk and a large goodwill balance relative to equity. Manufacturers selling directly to practices, and pure-play e-commerce suppliers, continue to chip at the intermediary's role, and the 2023 cyberattack is a reminder of how concentrated the operational risk in an ordering platform can be.

16 analysts publish price targets on HSIC, averaging $97.56 against a $89.77 price as of August 2026, or +8.7%. The published targets run from $64.00 to $112.00, a moderate spread, and the ratings split 9 buy, 7 hold, 1 sell. Over the last six months there have been 6 raises and 2 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full HSIC forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Henry Schein, Inc.. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Mix shift toward specialty and technology. Distribution is a pennies-on-the-dollar business, while the technology segment earns roughly 27% operating margins and specialty products earns well above the corporate average. The most optimistic published target, $112.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. Distribution economics are thin, so a small swing in product mix or in supplier rebates moves earnings more than revenue growth suggests. The most pessimistic target, $64.00, is roughly what HSIC is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on HSIC, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Henry Schein, Inc.'s investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$13.60B
• Market cap: ~$10.2B
• Share price: ~$89.77
• Q2 2026 sales: ~$3.5B, up ~6.7% year over year
• FY2026 guidance, non-GAAP diluted EPS: ~$5.29 to ~$5.39
• Price to trailing sales: ~0.75x

At roughly $89.77 against guided non-GAAP EPS of about $5.29 to $5.39, HSIC trades near 17 times this year's adjusted earnings, and under 0.8 times sales. The sales multiple is the one that matters least here, since distribution revenue converts to profit at a very low rate, and the adjusted multiple is the one that carries the most assumption risk, since restructuring charges running through 2027 keep GAAP results well below it. The gap between the two is effectively the market's discount on whether the margin program sticks.

Other names that sit close to HSIC: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get HSIC exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so HSIC sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where HSIC fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

HSIC trades like a distributor and is trying to earn the multiple of a specialty and software business, and the 2026 numbers are the first real evidence that the shift is showing up in profit.

Whether HSIC is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is HSIC a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the HSIC stock forecast.

For income investors, whether HSIC pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does HSIC pay a dividend? And to weigh HSIC against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: HSIC vs MCK and HSIC vs MDLN.