In the latest trading session, Astrazeneca (AZN) closed at $57.43, marking a -0.98% move from the previous day. This change lagged the S&P 500’s daily loss of 0.34%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.5%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.73%.
Prior to today’s trading, shares of the pharmaceutical had gained 7.61% over the past month. This has outpaced the Medical sector’s gain of 5.8% and the S&P 500’s gain of 5.71% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from AZN as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be July 30, 2020. In that report, analysts expect AZN to post earnings of $0.43 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 16.22%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.34 billion, up 8.82% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $2.03 per share and revenue of $26.73 billion, which would represent changes of +16% and +9.64%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for AZN. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company’s business outlook.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.2% higher within the past month. AZN currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).
In terms of valuation, AZN is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 28.54. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry’s average Forward P/E of 15.82.
Meanwhile, AZN’s PEG ratio is currently 1.72. 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 2.19 as of yesterday’s close.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 34, which puts it in the top 14% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order 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.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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