GSK (GSK) Competitors

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

Do analysts rate GSK or AZN?

GSK presently has a consensus price target of $43.25, suggesting a potential upside of 29.28%. AstraZeneca has a consensus price target of $89.75, suggesting a potential upside of 34.76%. Given AstraZeneca's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe AstraZeneca is more favorable than GSK.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
GSK	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60
AstraZeneca	0 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the MarketBeat Community favor GSK or AZN?

GSK received 760 more outperform votes than AstraZeneca when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 58.82% of users gave AstraZeneca an outperform vote while only 57.10% of users gave GSK an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
GSK	Outperform Votes 820 57.10%	Underperform Votes 616 42.90%
AstraZeneca	Outperform Votes 60 58.82%	Underperform Votes 42 41.18%

Which has more volatility and risk, GSK or AZN?

GSK has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AstraZeneca has a beta of 0.46, meaning that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is GSK or AZN more profitable?

AstraZeneca has a net margin of 12.68% compared to GSK's net margin of 7.97%. GSK's return on equity of 50.62% beat AstraZeneca's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GSK	7.97%	50.62%	11.54%
AstraZeneca	12.68%	30.01%	11.42%

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, GSK or AZN?

GSK has higher earnings, but lower revenue than AstraZeneca. 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	$37.71B	1.84	$6.13B	$1.54	21.72
AstraZeneca	$51.21B	4.03	$5.96B	$2.09	31.87

Does the media refer more to GSK or AZN?

In the previous week, AstraZeneca had 30 more articles in the media than GSK. MarketBeat recorded 48 mentions for AstraZeneca and 18 mentions for GSK. GSK's average media sentiment score of 0.41 beat AstraZeneca's score of 0.27 indicating that GSK is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
GSK	8 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
AstraZeneca	16 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	27 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is GSK or AZN a better dividend stock?

GSK pays an annual dividend of $1.48 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. AstraZeneca pays an annual dividend of $0.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. GSK pays out 96.1% 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 46.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Do insiders & institutionals believe in GSK or AZN?

15.7% of GSK shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.4% of AstraZeneca shares are held by institutional investors. 10.0% of GSK shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

AstraZeneca beats GSK on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.