# AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN)

As of Sun 8 Nov 2026 12:00 UTC (weekly snapshot). Full report: https://standard-equity.report/LSE/AZN

Price £139.30 (GBP), market cap £216.1B, Healthcare - Drug Manufacturers - General.

## Valuation

- SE Reference Value (expected value, DCF): £106.63 (central 50% range £87.23 to £133.48), -23% against the price; range width moderate
- SE Grade: 1 of 3 (Value 1, Quality 3, Moat 1)
- Consensus Rating: Buy (Strong buy 15, Buy 5, Hold 5, Sell 0, Strong sell 0)
- Consensus Price (mean): £162.83, +17% against the price

## Key metrics

Financials in USD. Peer percentile: 100 = best in the peer group.

| Metric | Now | 5Y median | 10Y median | Peers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $62.38B | CAGR 17.2% | CAGR 11.0% | P80 |
| Revenue growth | 7.3% | 18.0% | 9.2% | P53 |
| Gross margin | 81.9% | 81.7% | 81.1% | P90 |
| Operating margin | 25.7% | 21.2% | 16.7% | P43 |
| Net margin | 17.7% | 13.0% | 12.5% | P62 |
| FCF yield | 3.5% | 4.4% | 3.4% | P40 |
| FCF margin | 16.4% | 19.6% | 13.7% | P30 |
| FCF / net income | 0.93x | 1.51x | 1.31x | P33 |
| ROIC | 17.9% | 13.7% | 12.3% | P40 |
| ROE | 22.6% | 15.6% | 16.7% | P64 |
| ROA | 9.2% | 5.9% | 4.8% | P48 |
| EPS | $7.07 | CAGR 21.9% | CAGR 10.1% | - |
| EPS growth | 17.4% | 45.4% | 18.1% | P57 |
| Book value per share | $33.16 | CAGR 21.2% | CAGR 11.5% | - |
| FCF per share | $6.54 | CAGR 20.8% | CAGR 15.1% | - |
| Dividend per share | $3.20 | CAGR 2.7% | CAGR 1.5% | - |
| Dividend yield | 1.7% | 2.2% | 2.7% | P29 |
| Payout ratio (FY2025) | 48.9% | 76.1% | 116.5% | P42 |
| Diluted shares | 1,551.0M | CAGR 3.5% | CAGR 2.4% | P46 |
| Buyback yield | 0.1% | -0.1% | -0.1% | P46 |
| Debt/equity | 0.66x | 0.76x | 0.99x | P48 |
| Enterprise value | $319.4B | CAGR 12.3% | CAGR 12.8% | P80 |
| Long-term debt | $28.91B | CAGR 5.2% | CAGR 5.2% | P67 |

## Company Note (Q3 2026)

Written by AI from the data above.

**AstraZeneca's third quarter was a story** of new medicines outrunning old ones. Revenue rose 6.7% year on year, well short of the 17.2% five-year compound rate. Oncology led, carried by Tagrisso, Imfinzi, Imjudo, Calquence and Enhertu, while Tezspire and Breztri drove respiratory and immunology. Those gains offset Farxiga and Brilinta losing exclusivity, with Farxiga also hit by China's volume-based procurement. Diluted EPS climbed 23.5%. Even so, the shares price in more than the cash flows support: SE fair value of £107 is 23.5% below the price.

**Management maintained every core 2026 target**: mid-to-high single-digit revenue growth, low double-digit core EPS growth, a core gross margin stable to slightly higher with the second half below the first, and R&D at the upper end of the low 20s as a share of revenue. Only capital spending moved, lowered to a low-teens rise. The CEO pointed to "more than 20 high-value trial readouts." Pressed on margin expansion alongside heavy pipeline spending, management declined long-term margin guidance and deferred to February's 2027 outlook. Revenue growth held steady against the second quarter, consistent with consensus.

**Analysts expect adjusted EPS** to grow 11.4% in FY2026 and 11.2% in FY2027, on revenue growth of 7.9% this year. Reported EPS runs well below the adjusted figures, so reported growth is not comparable. The price implies revenue growth of 10.7% a year, 2.9pp above that 7.9% consensus, a gap the forecasts do not close. Execution has been dependable, with EPS beating in 8 of the last 8 quarters, but beating estimates of high single-digit sales growth is not the same as delivering low double digits for five years.

**Profitability has improved sharply**. ROE moved from 8.6% in FY2022 to 22.9% in FY2025, and net margin from 7.4% to 17.4% over the same span. ROA rose from 3.4% to 9.0%, showing the gains reach the whole asset base, not just the equity line. Gross margin has held steady at 81.9%, giving no sign that generic erosion is squeezing pricing at the gross level. What holds the quality picture back is durability: the company's five-year return ranks low among comparable companies, so the recent strength has a short record behind it.

**SE fair value** of £107 is 23.5% below the price, with medium confidence, while the star- and recency-weighted average target of 16 analysts sits 16.9% above it. On reported earnings the trailing P/E of 26.5x is below its 10-year median of 38.8x, a reading reported EPS distorts, while SE fair value points the other way. For the price to hold, revenue must grow 2.3x in ten years, an outcome only about one in ten very large companies achieve. Sales growth settling into mid single digits as Farxiga and China pressures persist would show it is not.

**The SE Score** is 1 of 3. Quality earns three stars because ROIC of 17% sits well above a 6.0% cost of capital, backed by interest cover of 11.0x. Moat earns one star, as ROIC has topped 15% in only 2 of the last 10 years, a short record against a ten-year median of 12%. Value earns one star: the price stands above SE fair value, and that left the overall score where the business scores placed it, rather than lifting it.

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Weekly snapshot, not live data. For information only, not investment advice. Methodology: https://standard-equity.report/methodology