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Astrazeneca (AZN) Stock Sinks As Market Gains: What You Should Know

In the latest trading session, Astrazeneca (AZN) closed at $55.44, marking a -0.84% move from the previous day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 1.05%. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.52%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.72%.

Coming into today, shares of the pharmaceutical had lost 1.5% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector lost 1.66%, while the S&P 500 lost 3.29%.

AZN will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect AZN to post earnings of $0.53 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 6%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $6.66 billion, up 3.92% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $2.03 per share and revenue of $26.26 billion. These totals would mark changes of +16% and +7.69%, respectively, from last year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for AZN. 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.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team 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 ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant within the past month. AZN is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, AZN is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 27.57. This represents a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.63.

It is also worth noting that AZN currently has a PEG ratio of 1.64. 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 Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.03 as of yesterday's close.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 168, putting it in the bottom 34% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks. Com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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