Astrazeneca (AZN) closed the latest trading day at $70.25, indicating a +0.95% change from the previous session's end. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.47%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.31%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw a decrease of 0.51%.
The pharmaceutical's stock has climbed by 6.21% in the past month, exceeding the Medical sector's gain of 3.2% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.67%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Astrazeneca in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on February 6, 2025. In that report, analysts expect Astrazeneca to post earnings of $1.07 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 46.58%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $14.28 billion, up 18.77% from the prior-year quarter.
Investors should also pay attention to any latest changes in analyst estimates for Astrazeneca. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To utilize this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model that integrates these estimate changes and provides a functional rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, spanning from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), boasts an impressive track record of outperformance, audited externally, with #1 ranked stocks yielding an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.71% lower. At present, Astrazeneca boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In the context of valuation, Astrazeneca is at present trading with a Forward P/E ratio of 14.93. This expresses a premium compared to the average Forward P/E of 12.92 of its industry.
Meanwhile, AZN's PEG ratio is currently 1.16. The PEG ratio is akin to the commonly utilized P/E ratio, but this measure also incorporates the company's anticipated earnings growth rate. The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.34 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 193, this industry ranks in the bottom 24% of all industries, numbering over 250.
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.
Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.
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