In the latest trading session, Astrazeneca (AZN) closed at $201.21, marking a -1.55% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.8%. Elsewhere, the Dow saw a downswing of 0.15%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq appreciated by 1.6%.
Shares of the pharmaceutical have appreciated by 6.84% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Medical sector's loss of 0.77%, and the S&P 500's gain of 5.15%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Astrazeneca in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on April 29, 2026. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.53, up 2.02% from the prior-year quarter. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $14.83 billion, showing a 9.11% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $10.3 per share and a revenue of $62.8 billion, demonstrating changes of +12.45% and +6.91%, respectively, from the preceding year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Astrazeneca. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To capitalize on this, we've crafted the Zacks Rank, a unique model that incorporates these estimate changes and offers a practical rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has shifted 0.11% downward. Astrazeneca presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, Astrazeneca is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 19.84. This signifies no noticeable deviation in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 19.84 for its industry.
Meanwhile, AZN's PEG ratio is currently 1.54. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 1.61 as of yesterday's close.
The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 95, positioning it in the top 39% of all 250+ industries.
The strength of our individual industry groups is measured by the Zacks Industry Rank, which is calculated based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within these 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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AstraZeneca PLC (AZN): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).