Astrazeneca (AZN) Stock Moves -0.59%: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Astrazeneca (AZN) closed at $50.56, marking a -0.59% move from the previous day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.66%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.29%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.25%.
Heading into today, shares of the pharmaceutical had lost 5.62% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's gain of 1.53% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.42% in that time.
AZN will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.53, up 17.78% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $7.01 billion, up 5.2% from the year-ago period.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for AZN. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 2.74% higher. AZN is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Looking at its valuation, AZN is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 19.56. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.05.
Also, we should mention that AZN has a PEG ratio of 1.4. 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 2.04 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 97, which puts it in the top 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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AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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