Astrazeneca (AZN) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know
Astrazeneca (AZN) closed at $55.69 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.75% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.67% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.57%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 0.61%.
Heading into today, shares of the pharmaceutical had lost 3.07% over the past month, lagging the Medical sector's gain of 0.38% and the S&P 500's gain of 7.78% in that time.
Wall Street will be looking for positivity from AZN as it approaches its next earnings report date. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.51, up 2% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.66 billion, up 3.92% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $2.03 per share and revenue of $26.27 billion. These totals would mark changes of +16% and +7.75%, respectively, from last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for AZN. 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.
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.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.29% lower. AZN is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Digging into valuation, AZN currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 27.67. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.76, which means AZN is trading at a premium to the group.
Meanwhile, AZN's PEG ratio is currently 1.66. 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 2.05 as of yesterday's close.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 168, putting it in the bottom 34% 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.
To follow AZN in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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