AstraZeneca (AZN) Competitors

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

Which has better valuation and earnings, AZN or NVO?

Novo Nordisk A/S has lower revenue, but higher 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
AstraZeneca	$54.07B	4.06	$7.04B	$2.49	28.42
Novo Nordisk A/S	$42.12B	N/A	$14.64B	$3.38	21.90

Is AZN or NVO more profitable?

Novo Nordisk A/S has a net margin of 34.52% compared to AstraZeneca's net margin of 14.14%. Novo Nordisk A/S's return on equity of 80.94% beat AstraZeneca's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AstraZeneca	14.14%	33.14%	12.83%
Novo Nordisk A/S	34.52%	80.94%	24.23%

Which has more volatility & risk, AZN or NVO?

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

Do institutionals & insiders have more ownership in AZN or NVO?

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

Is AZN or NVO a better dividend stock?

AstraZeneca pays an annual dividend of $2.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.9%. Novo Nordisk A/S pays an annual dividend of $1.64 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.2%. 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. Novo Nordisk A/S pays out 48.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Do analysts rate AZN or NVO?

AstraZeneca presently has a consensus price target of $85.00, suggesting a potential upside of 20.12%. Novo Nordisk A/S has a consensus price target of $112.00, suggesting a potential upside of 51.30%. Given Novo Nordisk A/S's higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Novo Nordisk A/S is more favorable than AstraZeneca.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AstraZeneca	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	2 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.13
Novo Nordisk A/S	2 Sell rating(s)	5 Hold rating(s)	3 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.27

Does the MarketBeat Community favor AZN or NVO?

Novo Nordisk A/S received 372 more outperform votes than AstraZeneca when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 61.70% of users gave Novo Nordisk A/S an outperform vote while only 60.00% of users gave AstraZeneca an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
AstraZeneca	Outperform Votes 63 60.00%	Underperform Votes 42 40.00%
Novo Nordisk A/S	Outperform Votes 435 61.70%	Underperform Votes 270 38.30%

Does the media favor AZN or NVO?

In the previous week, Novo Nordisk A/S had 21 more articles in the media than AstraZeneca. MarketBeat recorded 42 mentions for Novo Nordisk A/S and 21 mentions for AstraZeneca. Novo Nordisk A/S's average media sentiment score of 1.07 beat AstraZeneca's score of 0.81 indicating that Novo Nordisk A/S is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
AstraZeneca	15 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	1 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Novo Nordisk A/S	25 Very Positive mention(s)	6 Positive mention(s)	7 Neutral mention(s)	4 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Summary

Novo Nordisk A/S beats AstraZeneca on 13 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.