Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (AZN) is set to release its Q2 earnings report this week. This has some investors wondering whether it is a good idea to buy shares of AZN beforehand.
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What Wall Street Expects
Wall Street is expecting AZN to report quarterly earnings of $1.09 per share, reflecting an increase of 10.1% compared to the same period last year. Revenues are forecasted to be $14.03 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of 8.4%.
Will AZN be able to beat these estimates? As can be seen below, it has a strong track record of doing just that.
Key Insights Ahead of Earnings
The company reported a 10% increase in total revenue in the first quarter, reaching $13,588 million, with core EPS rising by 21% to $2.49. Key growth drivers included double-digit revenue increases in oncology and biopharmaceuticals.
Sales of AstraZeneca’s key medicines in Q2, mainly cancer drugs — Lynparza, Tagrisso and Imfinzi — and diabetes medicine Farxiga are expected to have driven the company’s top line over the period.
Regarding Tagrisso, the approval for frontline NSCLC based on FLAURA2 study data in February 2024 is likely to have pushed up sales.
While Lynparza sales are expected to have risen year over year, the declining use of the PARP inhibitors class of drugs, increasing competition in the United States and price reduction in Japan might have hurt sales.
Earlier today, AZN’s license application for Imfinzi was accepted and granted Priority Review in the US for the treatment of patients with gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancers.
The AZN share price has been held back to some extent this year by uncertainty over global tariffs – see below.
However, it will be interesting to see how the stock and management respond to the clarity seen this week through the US/EU trade deal.
Is AZN a Good Stock to Buy Now?
On TipRanks, AZN has a Strong Buy consensus based on 4 Buy ratings. Its highest price target is $97. AZN stock’s consensus price target is $97, implying a 34.26% upside.
