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Astrazeneca (AZN) Rises Higher Than Market: Key Facts

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Astrazeneca (AZN - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $203.49, moving +1.37% from the previous trading session. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.11% gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 0.13%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw an increase of 0.18%.

Shares of the pharmaceutical have depreciated by 0.4% over the course of the past month, outperforming the Medical sector's loss of 6.43%, and the S&P 500's loss of 4.28%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Astrazeneca in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is forecasted to report an EPS of $2.5, showcasing a 0.81% upward movement from the corresponding quarter of the prior year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $14.81 billion, indicating a 9.02% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $10.31 per share and revenue of $62.78 billion, which would represent changes of +12.55% and +6.88%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Astrazeneca. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, there's been a 0.21% rise in the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. Astrazeneca is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Astrazeneca has a Forward P/E ratio of 19.48 right now. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 21.19, so one might conclude that Astrazeneca is trading at a discount comparatively.

It is also worth noting that AZN currently has a PEG ratio of 1.51. 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 1.51.

The Medical - Biomedical and Genetics industry is part of the Medical sector. With its current Zacks Industry Rank of 145, this industry ranks in the bottom 41% of all industries, numbering over 250.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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