In the latest trading session, Astrazeneca (AZN) closed at $65.25, marking a -0.17% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500’s daily loss of 0.93%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.43%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.17%.
Prior to today’s trading, shares of the pharmaceutical had gained 1.41% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector’s gain of 6.13% and the S&P 500’s gain of 6.31% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Astrazeneca as it approaches its next earnings report date. This is expected to be July 29, 2022. On that day, Astrazeneca is projected to report earnings of $0.78 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 73.33%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $10.49 billion, up 27.66% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.29 per share and revenue of $43.54 billion, which would represent changes of +24.15% and +16.37%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Astrazeneca. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company’s business outlook.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an 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 0.24% lower within the past month. Astrazeneca is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Astrazeneca has a Forward P/E ratio of 19.85 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 12.32, so we one might conclude that Astrazeneca is trading at a premium comparatively.
It is also worth noting that AZN currently has a PEG ratio of 1.24. 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. Large Cap Pharmaceuticals stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 2.14 based on yesterday’s closing prices.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 165, which puts it in the bottom 35% 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.
To follow AZN in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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