Abbott Laboratories (ABT) Competitors

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

Is ABT or AZN a better dividend stock?

Abbott Laboratories pays an annual dividend of $2.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. AstraZeneca pays an annual dividend of $0.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Abbott Laboratories pays out 66.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AstraZeneca pays out 46.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Abbott Laboratories has increased its dividend for 53 consecutive years. Abbott Laboratories is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Which has better earnings & valuation, ABT or AZN?

AstraZeneca has higher revenue and earnings than Abbott Laboratories. AstraZeneca is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Abbott Laboratories, 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
Abbott Laboratories	$40.11B	5.06	$5.72B	$3.29	35.59
AstraZeneca	$45.81B	4.32	$5.96B	$2.09	30.53

Do institutionals and insiders have more ownership in ABT or AZN?

75.2% of Abbott Laboratories shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.4% of AstraZeneca shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.5% of Abbott Laboratories shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Is ABT or AZN more profitable?

Abbott Laboratories has a net margin of 13.99% compared to AstraZeneca's net margin of 12.68%. AstraZeneca's return on equity of 30.01% beat Abbott Laboratories' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Abbott Laboratories	13.99%	20.18%	10.84%
AstraZeneca	12.68%	30.01%	11.42%

Do analysts rate ABT or AZN?

Abbott Laboratories currently has a consensus price target of $130.07, indicating a potential upside of 11.07%. AstraZeneca has a consensus price target of $89.75, indicating a potential upside of 40.67%. Given AstraZeneca's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe AstraZeneca is more favorable than Abbott Laboratories.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Abbott Laboratories	0 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	12 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
AstraZeneca	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer ABT or AZN?

Abbott Laboratories received 874 more outperform votes than AstraZeneca when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 69.70% of users gave Abbott Laboratories an outperform vote while only 59.41% of users gave AstraZeneca an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Abbott Laboratories	Outperform Votes 934 69.70%	Underperform Votes 406 30.30%
AstraZeneca	Outperform Votes 60 59.41%	Underperform Votes 41 40.59%

Which has more volatility and risk, ABT or AZN?

Abbott Laboratories has a beta of 0.72, indicating that its share price is 28% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AstraZeneca has a beta of 0.47, indicating that its share price is 53% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the media prefer ABT or AZN?

In the previous week, Abbott Laboratories had 21 more articles in the media than AstraZeneca. MarketBeat recorded 48 mentions for Abbott Laboratories and 27 mentions for AstraZeneca. Abbott Laboratories' average media sentiment score of 1.50 beat AstraZeneca's score of 0.52 indicating that Abbott Laboratories is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Abbott Laboratories	46 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AstraZeneca	13 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	10 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Abbott Laboratories beats AstraZeneca on 14 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.