One-glance verdict
Within fair range
$167.85 our estimate vs market $160.17
Wall Street consensus: $212.90 (26.8% higher than our fair-value estimate)
5% below our estimate
Fundamentals snapshot
AstraZeneca PLC
AZN · NYQ · Healthcare · Drug Manufacturers - General
Current price
$160.17
52-week range
$145.80 - $212.71
Market cap
$248.41B
Balance sheet
Watch
8.26x Adequate
Net debt $27.38B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
2 Risks
3 rewards · 2 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 8.6% last year.
- Reward Returns 22.0% on equity, ahead of 33% of its peers.
- Risk Net debt grew 2.3% over 3 years.
- Risk Insider ownership is only 0.0% (peer median: 0.1%).
What this company does
AstraZeneca PLC
AstraZeneca is a global pharmaceutical company that develops and sells prescription medicines, with most of its revenue (the total money a company brings in from sales) coming from treatments for cancer, heart conditions, and respiratory diseases. The company's business model relies on its portfolio of patented drugs, which gives them the exclusive right to sell a medicine for a certain time, and its future success depends on discovering new treatments as older patents expire.
How the company got here
AstraZeneca was formed in 1999 through the merger of Sweden's Astra AB and the UK's Zeneca Group PLC. This combination brought together two companies with deep roots in science, dating back to 1913 for Astra. A key moment was the 2007 acquisition of MedImmune, which significantly boosted its capabilities in biologic medicines (drugs made from living organisms). More recently, the 2021 purchase of Alexion Pharmaceuticals marked a major entry into medicines for rare diseases, further diversifying the company's focus.
What it actually does
AstraZeneca is a global biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, and sells prescription medicines for serious diseases. You wouldn't find their products on a typical store shelf; they are medicines prescribed by doctors to treat conditions like cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and asthma. Some of their well-known treatments include Tagrisso for lung cancer, Farxiga for diabetes and heart failure, and Symbicort for asthma. The company invests heavily in research and development (the process of creating new medicines) to find new ways to treat complex diseases.
Oncology
This is AstraZeneca's largest business area, focused on developing medicines that fight various types of cancer. This division creates treatments that can target cancer cells directly or help the body's own immune system to attack tumors. It's a major source of the company's revenue (the total money earned from sales), with blockbuster drugs for lung, breast, and other cancers. This segment is a primary driver of the company's growth.
BioPharmaceuticals
This large segment combines several important areas, including Cardiovascular, Renal & Metabolism (heart, kidney, and diabetes-related diseases) and Respiratory & Immunology (diseases of the lungs and immune system). Doctors and hospitals pay for medicines that treat chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, heart failure, asthma, and COPD. This part of the business provides important, long-term treatments for millions of patients around the world.
Rare Disease
This is a newer but important part of the company, built from the acquisition of Alexion. It focuses on developing and selling treatments for diseases that affect a very small number of people and often have limited or no treatment options. Because these conditions are so specialized, the medicines can be very unique and are a key area of growth for the company. This segment represents a strategy of diversifying into highly specialized medical areas.
What management is betting on now
AstraZeneca's leadership is heavily focused on innovation, aiming to launch 20 new medicines by 2030 and significantly increase its total revenue (the money it makes from selling its products). A major part of this strategy involves pioneering new technologies, like using artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up drug discovery and development. The company is also making big investments in its oncology and rare disease pipelines (the group of new drugs being developed), seeing these as key drivers for future growth. They are also committed to sustainability, working to reduce their carbon emissions while growing the business.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $167.85 vs current price $160.17
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $212.90 (26.8% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $167.85 a share — about 4.8% away from today's price of $160.17, so the stock currently looks fairly priced.
Is it drowning in debt?
Watch
Net debt $27.4B. Interest coverage 8.3x.
Net debt
$27.38B
Interest coverage
8.26x
AstraZeneca PLC's profit covers its interest bill about 8.3 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here.
Watch
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
AZN
BASELINE
AstraZeneca PLC
Total debt $32.35B Interest coverage 8.26x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $49.04B Interest coverage 26.36x +219% vs AZN Carries about 3.2x more debt cushion than AZN.
Total debt $63.48B Interest coverage 6.52x -21% vs AZN Carries about 1.3x less debt cushion than AZN.
Total debt $53.91B Interest coverage 16.29x +97% vs AZN Carries about 2.0x more debt cushion than AZN.
Total debt $45.05B Interest coverage 7.26x -12% vs AZN Has roughly the same debt cushion as AZN.
Total debt $54.91B Interest coverage 38.04x +361% vs AZN Carries about 4.6x more debt cushion than AZN.
What you should know
The case for and against AZN
3 Rewards
2 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 8.6% last year.
-
Returns 22.0% on equity, ahead of 33% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 4/10 years.
Risks
-
Net debt grew 2.3% over 3 years.
-
Insider ownership is only 0.0% (peer median: 0.1%).
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
23.98x
Forward P/E
14.10x
P/B
4.94x
P/S
4.05x
EV/EBITDA
13.86x
PEG ratio
1.14x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
81.7%
Operating margin
23.5%
Net margin
17.0%
ROE
22.0%
ROA
8.0%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
0.64x
Current ratio
0.89x
Quick ratio
0.66x
Total debt
$32.35B
Total cash
$4.97B
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$61.37B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
9.8%
EPS TTM
6.68
EPS 5Y CAGR
45.8%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$14.57B
Free CF TTM
$8.67B
FCF margin
14.1%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
2.0%
Payout ratio
47.4%
Last ex-div date
2026-08-07