AstraZeneca (AZN) Competitors

GSK (LON:GSK) and AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) are both large-cap medical companies, but which is the superior stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their earnings, profitability, analyst recommendations, community ranking, dividends, media sentiment, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor GSK or AZN?

AstraZeneca received 768 more outperform votes than GSK when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.70% of users gave AstraZeneca an outperform vote while only 50.39% of users gave GSK an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
GSK	Outperform Votes 1090 50.39%	Underperform Votes 1073 49.61%
AstraZeneca	Outperform Votes 1858 63.70%	Underperform Votes 1059 36.30%

Do analysts recommend GSK or AZN?

GSK presently has a consensus price target of GBX 1,805.83, suggesting a potential upside of 38.01%. AstraZeneca has a consensus price target of £104.12, suggesting a potential upside of 1.86%. Given GSK's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts clearly believe GSK is more favorable than AstraZeneca.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GSK	1 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.57
AstraZeneca	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.56

Which has more volatility and risk, GSK or AZN?

GSK has a beta of 0.31, suggesting that its share price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AstraZeneca has a beta of 0.17, suggesting that its share price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is GSK or AZN more profitable?

AstraZeneca has a net margin of 13.11% compared to GSK's net margin of 12.83%. GSK's return on equity of 33.30% beat AstraZeneca's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GSK	12.83%	33.30%	9.56%
AstraZeneca	13.11%	16.74%	7.68%

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in GSK or AZN?

45.3% of GSK shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.0% of AstraZeneca shares are owned by institutional investors. 1.6% of GSK shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of AstraZeneca shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer GSK or AZN?

In the previous week, GSK had 6 more articles in the media than AstraZeneca. MarketBeat recorded 6 mentions for GSK and 0 mentions for AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca's average media sentiment score of 0.42 beat GSK's score of -0.19 indicating that AstraZeneca is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Overall Sentiment
GSK	Neutral
AstraZeneca	Neutral

Is GSK or AZN a better dividend stock?

GSK pays an annual dividend of GBX 60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.6%. AstraZeneca pays an annual dividend of GBX 234 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.3%. GSK pays out 5,309.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. AstraZeneca pays out 7,428.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. GSK is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Which has higher earnings and valuation, GSK or AZN?

AstraZeneca has higher revenue and earnings than GSK. GSK is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AstraZeneca, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
GSK	£31.45B	1.70	£4.03B	£1.13	1,157.96
AstraZeneca	£49.13B	3.22	£6.44B	£3.15	3,245.08

Summary

AstraZeneca beats GSK on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.