AstraZeneca (AZN) Competitors

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

Which has preferable earnings and valuation, AZN or NVS?

Novartis has lower revenue, but higher earnings than AstraZeneca. Novartis 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	$54.07B	4.32	$7.04B	$2.66	28.33
Novartis	$50.32B	5.16	$11.94B	$6.87	17.90

Do analysts recommend AZN or NVS?

AstraZeneca currently has a consensus target price of $86.00, suggesting a potential upside of 14.12%. Novartis has a consensus target price of $120.33, suggesting a potential downside of 2.13%. Given AstraZeneca's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities research analysts plainly believe AstraZeneca is more favorable than Novartis.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AstraZeneca	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.75
Novartis	3 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Is AZN or NVS more profitable?

Novartis has a net margin of 25.64% compared to AstraZeneca's net margin of 14.68%. Novartis' return on equity of 41.08% beat AstraZeneca's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AstraZeneca	14.68%	32.84%	12.87%
Novartis	25.64%	41.08%	16.83%

Do institutionals & insiders hold more shares of AZN or NVS?

20.4% of AstraZeneca shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.1% of Novartis shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.0% of Novartis shares are owned 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.

Does the media refer more to AZN or NVS?

In the previous week, AstraZeneca had 5 more articles in the media than Novartis. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for AstraZeneca and 19 mentions for Novartis. Novartis' average media sentiment score of 1.37 beat AstraZeneca's score of 1.18 indicating that Novartis is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AstraZeneca	19 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Novartis	16 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has more volatility & risk, AZN or NVS?

AstraZeneca has a beta of 0.37, meaning that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Novartis has a beta of 0.63, meaning that its share price is 37% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Is AZN or NVS a better dividend stock?

AstraZeneca pays an annual dividend of $1.01 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.3%. Novartis pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. AstraZeneca pays out 38.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Novartis pays out 37.8% 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. Novartis is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.

Summary

Novartis beats AstraZeneca on 12 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.