AstraZeneca (AZN) Competitors

Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) 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 risk, community ranking, dividends, earnings, media sentiment, profitability, analyst recommendations, institutional ownership and valuation.

Which has more risk and volatility, NVO or AZN?

Novo Nordisk A/S has a beta of 0.66, suggesting that its stock price is 34% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, AstraZeneca has a beta of 0.38, suggesting that its stock price is 62% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Do institutionals and insiders hold more shares of 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 company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Which has stronger earnings & valuation, 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	$303.14B	1.16	$14.64B	$3.38	23.27
AstraZeneca	$54.98B	4.16	$7.04B	$2.49	29.62

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer NVO or AZN?

Novo Nordisk A/S received 371 more outperform votes than AstraZeneca when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.65% of users gave Novo Nordisk A/S an outperform vote while only 60.00% of users gave AstraZeneca an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Novo Nordisk A/S	Outperform Votes 434 61.65%	Underperform Votes 270 38.35%
AstraZeneca	Outperform Votes 63 60.00%	Underperform Votes 42 40.00%

Do analysts rate NVO or AZN?

Novo Nordisk A/S currently has a consensus target price of $112.00, suggesting a potential upside of 42.42%. AstraZeneca has a consensus target price of $85.00, suggesting a potential upside of 15.25%. Given Novo Nordisk A/S's higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly 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	2 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.27
AstraZeneca	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.13

Does the media refer more to NVO or AZN?

In the previous week, Novo Nordisk A/S had 42 more articles in the media than AstraZeneca. MarketBeat recorded 54 mentions for Novo Nordisk A/S and 12 mentions for AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca's average media sentiment score of 1.45 beat Novo Nordisk A/S's score of 0.86 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	31 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	7 Negative mention(s)	3 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
AstraZeneca	10 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	0 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Is NVO or AZN more profitable?

Novo Nordisk A/S has a net margin of 34.81% compared to AstraZeneca's net margin of 13.01%. Novo Nordisk A/S's return on equity of 84.68% beat AstraZeneca's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Novo Nordisk A/S	34.81%	84.68%	26.29%
AstraZeneca	13.01%	32.23%	12.31%

Is NVO or AZN a better dividend stock?

Novo Nordisk A/S pays an annual dividend of $1.63 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. AstraZeneca pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.8%. Novo Nordisk A/S pays out 48.2% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. AstraZeneca pays out 82.7% 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

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