Comparing AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) & Pharming Group (NASDAQ:PHAR)

AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN) and Pharming Group (NASDAQ:PHAR) are both medical companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their valuation, risk, institutional ownership, dividends, earnings, analyst recommendations and profitability.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares AstraZeneca and Pharming Group”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
AstraZeneca	$49.13 billion	4.93	$5.96 billion	$2.04	38.28
Pharming Group	$277.56 million	2.06	-$10.55 million	($0.16)	-53.19

AstraZeneca has higher revenue and earnings than Pharming Group. Pharming Group is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than AstraZeneca, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for AstraZeneca and Pharming Group, as provided by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
AstraZeneca	1	1	7	2	2.91
Pharming Group	0	0	1	0	3.00

AstraZeneca presently has a consensus price target of $89.75, suggesting a potential upside of 14.92%. Pharming Group has a consensus price target of $37.00, suggesting a potential upside of 334.78%. Given Pharming Group’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Pharming Group is more favorable than AstraZeneca.

Profitability

This table compares AstraZeneca and Pharming Group’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
AstraZeneca	13.11%	29.34%	11.15%
Pharming Group	-4.65%	-5.69%	-2.77%

Volatility & Risk

AstraZeneca has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its share price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Pharming Group has a beta of 0.15, indicating that its share price is 85% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

20.4% of AstraZeneca shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 0.0% of Pharming Group shares are held by institutional investors. 2.1% of Pharming Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

AstraZeneca beats Pharming Group on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacture, and commercialization of prescription medicines. The company’s marketed products include Tagrisso, Imfinzi, Lynparza, Calquence, Enhertu, Orpathys, Truqap, Zoladex, Faslodex, Farxiga, Brilinta, Lokelma, Roxadustat, Andexxa, Crestor, Seloken, Onglyza, Bydureon, Fasenra, Breztri, Symbicort, Saphnelo, Tezspire, Pulmicort, Bevespi, and Daliresp for cardiovascular, renal, metabolism, and oncology. Its marketed products also comprise Vaxzevria, Beyfortus, Synagis, FluMist, Soliris, Ultomiris, Strensiq, Koselugo, and Kanuma for covid-19 and rare disease. The company serves primary care and specialty care physicians through distributors and local representative offices in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. It has a collaboration agreement with Neurimmune AG to develop and commercialize NI006; BenevolentAI for drug discovery for systemic lupus erythematosus; and Absci Corporation for AI-driven drug discovery against an oncology target. The company was formerly known as Zeneca Group PLC and changed its name to AstraZeneca PLC in April 1999. AstraZeneca PLC was incorporated in 1992 and is headquartered in Cambridge, the United Kingdom.

About Pharming Group

Pharming Group N.V., a biopharmaceutical company, develops and commercializes protein replacement therapies and precision medicines for the treatment of rare diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company offers RUCONEST, a recombinant C1 esterase inhibitor for the treatment of acute attacks in adult and adolescent patients with acute hereditary angioedema (HAE); and Joenja (leniolisib), an oral small molecule PI3K? inhibitor for the treatment of activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta syndrome. It also develops OTL-105, an investigational ex-vivo autologous hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy for the treatment of HAE. The company has a development collaboration and license agreement with Novartis; and a strategic collaboration agreement with Orchard Therapeutics plc for research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of OTL-105. Pharming Group N.V. was incorporated in 1988 and is headquartered in Leiden, the Netherlands.