Astrazeneca (AZN) Stock Moves -0.29%: What You Should Know
Astrazeneca (AZN) closed the most recent trading day at $54.35, moving -0.29% from the previous trading session. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's 0.8% loss on the day. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.3%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.03%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the pharmaceutical had lost 3.42% over the past month. This has lagged the Medical sector's loss of 3.06% and was narrower than the S&P 500's loss of 5.13% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from Astrazeneca as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be November 10, 2022. In that report, analysts expect Astrazeneca to post earnings of $0.77 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 42.59%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $10.96 billion, up 11.11% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3.32 per share and revenue of $44.45 billion. These totals would mark changes of +25.28% and +18.79%, respectively, from last year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Astrazeneca. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. 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, 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.42% higher. Astrazeneca is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, Astrazeneca currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 16.41. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 12.69, which means Astrazeneca is trading at a premium to the group.
We can also see that AZN currently has a PEG ratio of 1.03. 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 1.74 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 133, which puts it in the bottom 48% 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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