AstraZeneca Pipeline to Drive ‘Very Strong’ Growth Outlook, Says Analyst

Shares of AstraZeneca (LON: AZN) (NASDAQ: AZN) rose more than 1% Thursday after analysts at JPMorgan said they see near-term upside.

The investment bank placed AstraZeneca shares on ‘Positive Catalyst Watch' ahead of the company's first-quarter results on April 25. The firm also maintained an Overweight rating on AZN shares with a 13,000p price target.

JPMorgan said it expects a sequential sales acceleration of seven percentage points and a sequential core EBIT margin expansion of 11 points. They believe this should reassure the market following the concerns coming out of the fourth quarter.

Furthermore, the bank expects peak sales guidance for AstraZeneca's essential pipeline assets to drive a “very strong” growth outlook.

Looking ahead to AstraZeneca's upcoming earnings report, the earnings per share consensus expectation is $0.97, while analysts expect the company to post revenue of $11.98 billion.

In the fourth quarter, AstraZeneca reported earnings of $1.45 per share, $0.71 above the the analyst consensus estimate of $0.74, while revenue for the quarter came in at $12.02 billion, beating the consensus estimate of $12 billion.

Overall, analysts are mostly bullish on AstraZeneca shares, with 11 out of 16 analysts assigning the stock a Buy rating, according to data compiled by TipRanks. Three analysts have assigned the stock a Hold rating, while two have assigned AZN a Sell rating. The average price target is 10,152.69p, representing a potential 4% downside from current levels.