Astrazeneca (AZN) Dips More Than Broader Market: What You Should Know

Astrazeneca (AZN) closed at $183.60 in the latest trading session, marking a -2.82% move from the prior day. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 1.51%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.97%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw a decrease of 2.01%.

Shares of the pharmaceutical have depreciated by 9.44% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Medical sector's loss of 7.54%, and the S&P 500's loss of 3.63%.

The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Astrazeneca in its upcoming release. The company's earnings per share (EPS) are projected to be $2.5, reflecting a 0.81% increase from the same quarter last year. At the same time, our most recent consensus estimate is projecting a revenue of $14.81 billion, reflecting a 9.02% rise from the equivalent quarter last year.

AZN's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $10.31 per share and revenue of $62.86 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +12.55% and +7.01%, respectively.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Astrazeneca. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.

Our research demonstrates that these adjustments in estimates directly associate with imminent stock price performance. 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, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.65% higher. Astrazeneca presently features a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Looking at valuation, Astrazeneca is presently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 18.32. This signifies a discount in comparison to the average Forward P/E of 20.36 for its industry.

We can additionally observe that AZN currently boasts a PEG ratio of 1.42. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. As the market closed yesterday, the Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry was having an average PEG ratio of 1.52.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 144, putting it in the bottom 42% of all 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.

To follow AZN in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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