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British-Swedish pharmaceutical major focused on oncology, cardiovascular/metabolic, respiratory/immunology and rare-disease medicines.
British-Swedish pharmaceutical major focused on oncology, cardiovascular/metabolic, respiratory/immunology and rare-disease medicines.
Earns by selling patent-protected prescription medicines through hospitals and health systems, with oncology the largest area and emerging markets, notably China, an important region. It bought Alexion in 2021 to add its rare-disease business.
Moat: wide (IP / patents, scale). Broad patent-protected oncology and biologics portfolio with a large global sales/trial infrastructure.
Headquarters: Cambridge, UK · Founded: 1999 · Employees: 96,100
Size AstraZeneca (AZN.L) is a United Kingdom Health Care company (Pharmaceuticals: Major) with a market value of $291B, the 2nd largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £13,930 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 1.3%, against +18.3% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — 3rd lowest of 13 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 4.5% over the last twelve months (peer median +5.4%); the operating margin is 23.3% (peer median 30.4%).
Valuation It trades at 18.3× forward earnings against a peer median of 14.7× (6th most expensive of 13).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 14% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +16%, so the hurdle is -1 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 4.6 points above its cost of capital (9.3% WACC).
Credit AstraZeneca has 11 bonds outstanding ($8.32B), rated A+ by the agencies and trading like AA+ at a weighted spread of 63 bp.
Next results Next results expected around 11 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £46.5B | £44.6B | £42.3B | £36.9B | £36.0B |
| Revenue growth | — | +5% | +15% | +2% | — |
| Gross profit | £34.5B | £33.3B | £31.7B | £27.3B | £22.8B |
| EBITDA | £15.6B | £14.8B | £14.0B | £11.5B | £8.37B |
| Net income | £8.22B | £7.76B | £5.51B | £4.79B | £2.67B |
| Free cash flow | £7.78B | £9.14B | £8.04B | £7.46B | £7.13B |
| Capital expenditure | £5.31B | £4.48B | £3.59B | £3.04B | £2.09B |
| Total debt | £25.7B | £22.0B | £24.2B | £22.5B | £24.3B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AstraZeneca AZN.L | $291B | +1% | +5% | 23% | 18.3× | 14.5% |
| Pfizer PFE | $168B | +14% | +1% | 26% | 10.4× | -4.3% |
| Merck & MRK | $362B | +33% | +5% | 18% | 17.4× | 4.1% |
| Roche RO.SW | $385B | +22% | -1% | 31% | 19.6× | 0.9% |
| Novartis NOVN.SW | $298B | +15% | -4% | 30% | 18.4× | 1.7% |
| GSK GSK.L | $102B | 0% | +4% | 25% | 10.6× | -0.1% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | AZN.L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +17.1% | +8.3% | 3rd highest of 13 |
| 6-month return | +1.3% | +18.3% | 3rd lowest of 13 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -11.4% | -6.5% | 3rd lowest of 13 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +4.5% | +5.4% | 6th lowest of 13 |
| Operating margin | 23.3% | 30.4% | 2nd lowest of 13 |
| Forward P/E | 18.3× | 14.7× | 6th most expensive of 13 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 14.5% | 0.0% | most demanding of 13 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +15.7% | +4.9% | 2nd highest of 13 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -1.2 pp | -7.1 pp | 5th most demanding of 13 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +4.6 pp | +12.0 pp | 3rd lowest of 13 |
| EV / EBITDA | 15.1× | 15.4× | 6th cheapest of 12 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.2× | 1.0× | 6th most indebted of 12 |
| Bond spread | 63 bp | 65 bp | 6th tightest of 12 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AstraZeneca AZN.L | United Kingdom | $291B | +1% | +5% | 23% | 18.3× | 14.5% | +15.7% |
| Novartis NOVN.SW | Switzerland | $298B | +15% | -4% | 30% | 18.4× | 1.7% | -0.2% |
| Merck & MRK | United States | $362B | +33% | +5% | 18% | 17.4× | 4.1% | +9.3% |
| Roche RO.SW | Switzerland | $385B | +22% | -1% | 31% | 19.6× | 0.9% | +1.1% |
| Novo Nordisk A/S NOVO-B.CO | Denmark | $190B | -7% | +6% | 48% | 11.9× | 0.1% | +19.5% |
| Pfizer PFE | United States | $168B | +14% | +1% | 26% | 10.4× | -4.3% | +8.5% |
| AbbVie ABBV | United States | $515B | +45% | +11% | 36% | 18.4× | -0.1% | +6.0% |
| Vertex Pharmaceuticals VRTX | United States | $139B | +27% | +11% | 35% | 29.0× | 6.1% | +14.2% |
| Bristol Myers Squibb BMY | United States | $127B | +12% | +4% | 33% | 9.7× | -12.9% | +2.5% |
| Johnson & Johnson JNJ | United States | $665B | +26% | +8% | 26% | 24.5× | 3.5% | +2.7% |
| Sanofi SAN.PA | France | $113B | +14% | +15% | 27% | 9.6× | -5.4% | +3.9% |
| GSK GSK.L | United Kingdom | $102B | 0% | +4% | 25% | 10.6× | -0.1% | -0.9% |
| Regeneron Pharmaceuticals REGN | United States | $93.5B | +27% | +19% | 30% | 11.3× | -2.2% | +11.0% |
AstraZeneca has 11 bonds outstanding with $8.32B face value. The agencies rate it A+; its bonds trade like AA+. Weighted yield 3.79%, a spread of 63 bp over government bonds.