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Astrazeneca (AZN) Stock Moves -0.56%: What You Should Know

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Astrazeneca (AZN - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $64.21, moving -0.56% from the previous trading session. The stock exceeded the S&P 500, which registered a loss of 1.43% for the day. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.32%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw a decrease of 2.43%.

Shares of the pharmaceutical witnessed a loss of 5.35% over the previous month, trailing the performance of the Medical sector with its loss of 3.82% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.55%.

The upcoming earnings release of Astrazeneca will be of great interest to investors. The company's earnings report is expected on November 9, 2023. On that day, Astrazeneca is projected to report earnings of $0.82 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 2.38%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $11.56 billion, up 5.24% from the prior-year quarter.

Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $3.66 per share and revenue of $45.86 billion, indicating changes of +9.91% and +3.4%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Astrazeneca should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. 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 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 past month, there's been a 0.04% fall in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Astrazeneca currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Investors should also note Astrazeneca's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 17.66. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 14.98, so one might conclude that Astrazeneca is trading at a premium comparatively.

It is also worth noting that AZN currently has a PEG ratio of 1.29. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The average PEG ratio for the Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry stood at 1.77 at the close of the market yesterday.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 236, finds itself in the bottom 7% echelons of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered 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.

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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