Astrazeneca (AZN) closed the most recent trading day at $70.74, moving -0.48% from the previous trading session. This move lagged the S&P 500’s daily loss of 0.2%. At the same time, the Dow lost 1.14%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.39%.
Coming into today, shares of the pharmaceutical had gained 5.35% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 1.12%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.01%.
Investors will be hoping for strength from Astrazeneca as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $0.71, down 15.48% from the prior-year quarter. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $11.4 billion, down 5.09% from the year-ago period.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Astrazeneca. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company’s business outlook.
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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.46% higher. Astrazeneca is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Digging into valuation, Astrazeneca currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 19.49. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 14.64, which means Astrazeneca is trading at a premium to the group.
Also, we should mention that AZN has a PEG ratio of 1.3. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock’s expected earnings growth rate. The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry currently 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 group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 61, putting it in the top 25% 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.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.
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