In the latest close session, Astrazeneca (AZN) was up +1.86% at $182.28. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.75%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 1.86%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 2.54%.
Shares of the pharmaceutical have depreciated by 4.67% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Medical sector's gain of 3.73%, and the S&P 500's loss of 1.63%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Astrazeneca in its upcoming release. In that report, analysts expect Astrazeneca to post earnings of $2.1 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 3.67%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $15.27 billion, up 5.65% from the year-ago period.
In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $9.37 per share and a revenue of $63.04 billion, indicating changes of +2.29% and +7.33%, respectively, from the former year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Astrazeneca. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Consequently, upward revisions in estimates express analysts' positivity towards the business operations and its ability to generate profits.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-term stock moves. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, which varies between #1 (Strong Buy) and #5 (Strong Sell), carries an impressive track record of exceeding expectations, confirmed by external audits, with stocks at #1 delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 8.62% lower. Astrazeneca is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, Astrazeneca is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 19.1. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 20.9.
Meanwhile, AZN's PEG ratio is currently 1.56. The PEG ratio bears resemblance to the frequently used P/E ratio, but this parameter also includes the company's expected earnings growth trajectory. By the end of yesterday's trading, the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.46.
The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 153, placing it within the bottom 38% of over 250 industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.
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AstraZeneca PLC (AZN): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).