AstraZeneca (AZN) Competitors

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

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.

Do analysts rate GSK or AZN?

GSK currently has a consensus target price of GBX 1,842.50, suggesting a potential upside of 40.26%. AstraZeneca has a consensus target price of £104.12, suggesting a potential upside of 3.92%. Given GSK's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, 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

Does the media prefer GSK or AZN?

In the previous week, AstraZeneca had 2 more articles in the media than GSK. MarketBeat recorded 10 mentions for AstraZeneca and 8 mentions for GSK. AstraZeneca's average media sentiment score of 0.61 beat GSK's score of 0.54 indicating that AstraZeneca is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
GSK	2 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AstraZeneca	3 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more risk and volatility, 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.

Which has better valuation and earnings, 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	1,162.52
AstraZeneca	£49.13B	3.16	£6.44B	£3.15	3,180.95

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 believe in GSK or AZN?

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

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in GSK or AZN?

AstraZeneca received 768 more outperform votes than GSK when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 63.68% of users gave AstraZeneca an outperform vote while only 50.39% of users gave GSK an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
GSK	Outperform Votes 1089 50.39%	Underperform Votes 1072 49.61%
AstraZeneca	Outperform Votes 1857 63.68%	Underperform Votes 1059 36.32%

Summary

AstraZeneca beats GSK on 12 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.