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

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Astrazeneca (AZN - Free Report) closed at $52.04 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.12% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.98%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.99%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, added 0.5%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from AZN as it approaches its next earnings release, which is expected to be February 11, 2021. In that report, analysts expect AZN to post earnings of $0.53 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 17.78%. Meanwhile, our latest consensus estimate is calling for revenue of $6.96 billion, up 4.38% from the prior-year quarter.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for AZN should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest near-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, 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. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.58% lower. AZN is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.

Digging into valuation, AZN currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 21. This valuation marks a premium compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 13.96.

Investors should also note that AZN has a PEG ratio of 1.25 right now. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.08 at yesterday's closing price.

The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 196, putting it in the bottom 24% 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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