Astrazeneca (AZN) closed the most recent trading day at $61.79, moving -1.45% from the previous trading session. This move was narrower than the S&P 500’s daily loss of 2.91%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 2.73%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.25%.
Heading into today, shares of the pharmaceutical had gained 2.03% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector’s gain of 2.04% and outpacing the S&P 500’s gain of 0.84% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Astrazeneca as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, Astrazeneca is projected to report earnings of $0.78 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 73.33%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $10.46 billion, up 27.26% from the year-ago period.
AZN’s full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $3.30 per share and revenue of $43.59 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +24.53% and +16.49%, respectively.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Astrazeneca should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 1.08% lower within the past month. Astrazeneca currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, Astrazeneca currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 19. This represents a premium compared to its industry’s average Forward P/E of 13.07.
Investors should also note that AZN has a PEG ratio of 1.17 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock’s expected earnings growth rate. The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.22 at yesterday’s closing price.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 155, putting it in the bottom 39% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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