AstraZeneca (AZN) Competitors

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

Is AZN or NVS a better dividend stock?

AstraZeneca pays an annual dividend of $1.01 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.2%. Novartis pays an annual dividend of $2.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. 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.

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 held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 13.1% of Novartis shares are held by institutional investors. 0.0% of Novartis 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.

Which has more volatility & risk, AZN or NVS?

AstraZeneca has a beta of 0.36, suggesting that its share price is 64% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Novartis has a beta of 0.64, suggesting that its share price is 36% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has preferable valuation and earnings, 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	4.86	$7.04B	$2.66	31.85
Novartis	$50.32B	5.45	$11.94B	$6.87	18.90

Does the media prefer AZN or NVS?

In the previous week, AstraZeneca had 3 more articles in the media than Novartis. MarketBeat recorded 32 mentions for AstraZeneca and 29 mentions for Novartis. Novartis' average media sentiment score of 1.23 beat AstraZeneca's score of 0.81 indicating that Novartis is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AstraZeneca	22 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	4 Neutral mention(s)	2 Negative mention(s)	1 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Novartis	16 Very Positive mention(s)	3 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts recommend AZN or NVS?

AstraZeneca currently has a consensus target price of $86.00, indicating a potential upside of 1.50%. Novartis has a consensus target price of $120.33, indicating a potential downside of 7.33%. Given AstraZeneca's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, 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)	4 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80
Novartis	3 Sell rating(s)	4 Hold rating(s)	2 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.10

Summary

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