Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO) Competitors

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

Is NVO or AZN a better dividend stock?

Novo Nordisk A/S pays an annual dividend of $0.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. AstraZeneca pays an annual dividend of $0.98 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.5%. Novo Nordisk A/S pays out 23.3% 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.

Is NVO or AZN more profitable?

Novo Nordisk A/S has a net margin of 35.03% compared to AstraZeneca's net margin of 12.68%. Novo Nordisk A/S's return on equity of 86.32% beat AstraZeneca's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Novo Nordisk A/S	35.03%	86.32%	27.42%
AstraZeneca	12.68%	30.01%	11.42%

Do analysts recommend NVO or AZN?

Novo Nordisk A/S presently has a consensus target price of $150.40, suggesting a potential upside of 76.94%. AstraZeneca has a consensus target price of $89.75, suggesting a potential upside of 37.34%. Given Novo Nordisk A/S's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Novo Nordisk A/S is more favorable than AstraZeneca.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Novo Nordisk A/S	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
AstraZeneca	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.91

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, NVO or AZN?

Novo Nordisk A/S has higher revenue and earnings than AstraZeneca. Novo Nordisk A/S 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
Novo Nordisk A/S	$270.58B	1.41	$12.15B	$3.09	27.51
AstraZeneca	$51.21B	3.96	$5.96B	$2.09	31.27

Does the media favor NVO or AZN?

In the previous week, Novo Nordisk A/S had 37 more articles in the media than AstraZeneca. MarketBeat recorded 51 mentions for Novo Nordisk A/S and 14 mentions for AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca's average media sentiment score of 0.46 beat Novo Nordisk A/S's score of 0.27 indicating that AstraZeneca is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Novo Nordisk A/S	14 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	18 Neutral mention(s)	12 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral
AstraZeneca	6 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	6 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Neutral

Do insiders and institutionals believe in NVO or AZN?

11.5% of Novo Nordisk A/S shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 20.4% of AstraZeneca shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Novo Nordisk A/S shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Does the MarketBeat Community favor NVO or AZN?

Novo Nordisk A/S received 364 more outperform votes than AstraZeneca when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.81% of users gave Novo Nordisk A/S an outperform vote while only 58.82% of users gave AstraZeneca an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Novo Nordisk A/S	Outperform Votes 424 61.81%	Underperform Votes 262 38.19%
AstraZeneca	Outperform Votes 60 58.82%	Underperform Votes 42 41.18%

Which has more risk and volatility, NVO or AZN?

Novo Nordisk A/S has a beta of 0.4, suggesting that its stock price is 60% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AstraZeneca has a beta of 0.45, suggesting that its stock price is 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Novo Nordisk A/S beats AstraZeneca on 13 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.