AstraZeneca (AZN) Competitors

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

Is GSK or AZN a better dividend stock?

GSK pays an annual dividend of GBX 60 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.1%. AstraZeneca pays an annual dividend of GBX 234 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. GSK pays out 96.9% 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 64.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Which has preferable 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	£31.14B	1.90	£2.50B	£61.91	23.50
AstraZeneca	£66.95B	3.05	£8.71B	£364.83	29.13

Is GSK or AZN more profitable?

AstraZeneca has a net margin of 13.01% compared to GSK's net margin of 8.02%. GSK's return on equity of 18.08% beat AstraZeneca's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
GSK	8.02%	18.08%	9.56%
AstraZeneca	13.01%	17.76%	7.68%

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership 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 insiders. Comparatively, 0.0% of AstraZeneca shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Does the media prefer GSK or AZN?

In the previous week, AstraZeneca had 4 more articles in the media than GSK. MarketBeat recorded 8 mentions for AstraZeneca and 4 mentions for GSK. GSK's average media sentiment score of 0.25 beat AstraZeneca's score of 0.16 indicating that GSK is being referred to more favorably in the media.

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

Which has more volatility and risk, GSK or AZN?

GSK has a beta of 0.31, meaning that its share price is 69% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AstraZeneca has a beta of 0.17, meaning that its share price is 83% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do analysts recommend GSK or AZN?

GSK currently has a consensus target price of GBX 1,525, suggesting a potential upside of 4.85%. AstraZeneca has a consensus target price of GBX 8,380, suggesting a potential downside of 21.14%. Given GSK's higher possible upside, research 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)	2 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.25
AstraZeneca	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75

Summary

AstraZeneca beats GSK on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.