GSK (GSK) Competitors

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

Which has more risk & volatility, AZN or GSK?

AstraZeneca has a beta of 0.45, indicating that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, GSK has a beta of 0.64, indicating that its stock price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

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

20.4% of AstraZeneca shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 15.7% of GSK shares are held by institutional investors. 10.0% of GSK shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has better valuation and earnings, AZN or GSK?

GSK has lower revenue, but higher earnings 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
AstraZeneca	$51.21B	4.07	$5.96B	$2.09	32.14
GSK	$31.31B	2.27	$6.13B	$1.54	22.23

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in AZN or GSK?

GSK received 756 more outperform votes than AstraZeneca when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 58.82% of users gave AstraZeneca an outperform vote while only 56.98% of users gave GSK an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
AstraZeneca	Outperform Votes 60 58.82%	Underperform Votes 42 41.18%
GSK	Outperform Votes 816 56.98%	Underperform Votes 616 43.02%

Do analysts rate AZN or GSK?

AstraZeneca currently has a consensus price target of $89.75, indicating a potential upside of 33.60%. GSK has a consensus price target of $43.25, indicating a potential upside of 26.35%. Given AstraZeneca's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe AstraZeneca is more favorable than GSK.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AstraZeneca	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	7 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.92
GSK	0 Sell rating(s)	7 Hold rating(s)	0 Buy rating(s)	3 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.60

Does the media favor AZN or GSK?

In the previous week, GSK had 4 more articles in the media than AstraZeneca. MarketBeat recorded 26 mentions for GSK and 22 mentions for AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca's average media sentiment score of 0.71 beat GSK's score of 0.46 indicating that AstraZeneca is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AstraZeneca	14 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
GSK	10 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	2 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Is AZN or GSK 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
AstraZeneca	12.68%	30.01%	11.42%
GSK	7.97%	50.62%	11.54%

Is AZN or GSK a better dividend stock?

AstraZeneca pays an annual dividend of $0.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. GSK pays an annual dividend of $1.52 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.4%. AstraZeneca pays out 46.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. GSK pays out 98.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Summary

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