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AZN or NVO: Which Is the Better Value Stock Right Now?

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Investors interested in Large Cap Pharmaceuticals stocks are likely familiar with Astrazeneca (AZN - Free Report) and Novo Nordisk (NVO - Free Report) . But which of these two stocks offers value investors a better bang for their buck right now? We'll need to take a closer look.

Everyone has their own methods for finding great value opportunities, but our model includes pairing an impressive grade in the Value category of our Style Scores system with a strong Zacks Rank. The Zacks Rank is a proven strategy that targets companies with positive earnings estimate revision trends, while our Style Scores work to grade companies based on specific traits.

Currently, Astrazeneca has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy), while Novo Nordisk has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). Investors should feel comfortable knowing that AZN likely has seen a stronger improvement to its earnings outlook than NVO has recently. But this is just one factor that value investors are interested in.

Value investors also try to analyze a wide range of traditional figures and metrics to help determine whether a company is undervalued at its current share price levels.

The Value category of the Style Scores system identifies undervalued companies by looking at a number of key metrics. These include the long-favored P/E ratio, P/S ratio, earnings yield, cash flow per share, and a variety of other fundamentals that help us determine a company's fair value.

AZN currently has a forward P/E ratio of 19.02, while NVO has a forward P/E of 39.15. We also note that AZN has a PEG ratio of 1.43. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. NVO currently has a PEG ratio of 1.54.

Another notable valuation metric for AZN is its P/B ratio of 6.06. Investors use the P/B ratio to look at a stock's market value versus its book value, which is defined as total assets minus total liabilities. By comparison, NVO has a P/B of 33.18.

These are just a few of the metrics contributing to AZN's Value grade of B and NVO's Value grade of C.

AZN sticks out from NVO in both our Zacks Rank and Style Scores models, so value investors will likely feel that AZN is the better option right now.


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AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) - free report >>

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