Yahoo Finance Astrazeneca (AZN) Advances But Underperforms Market: Key Facts
Astrazeneca (AZN) closed the most recent trading day at $80.21, moving +0.24% from the previous trading session. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.26% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.18%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.35%.
Shares of the pharmaceutical have appreciated by 3.68% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Medical sector's gain of 3.06% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.25%.
Investors will be eagerly watching for the performance of Astrazeneca in its upcoming earnings disclosure. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.98, marking a 9.26% fall compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $12.49 billion, indicating a 9.4% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.
AZN's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $4.04 per share and revenue of $51.78 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +11.29% and +13.03%, respectively.
Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Astrazeneca. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. Therefore, positive revisions in estimates convey analysts' confidence in the company's business performance and profit potential.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.33% higher. Astrazeneca is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
In terms of valuation, Astrazeneca is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 19.8. This denotes a premium relative to the industry's average Forward P/E of 14.5.
It is also worth noting that AZN currently has a PEG ratio of 1.43. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. AZN's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.75 as of yesterday's close.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 154, this industry ranks in the bottom 39% of all industries, numbering over 250.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Remember to apply Zacks.com to follow these and more stock-moving metrics during the upcoming trading sessions.
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AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
