10 Best Foreign Stocks To Buy Now

8. AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q2 2024: 49

AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) is a British pharmaceutical company headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is one of the best positioned companies in the industry when it comes to benefiting from the growth in cancer treatments these days. AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)’s three drugs for small cell lung cancer, stage three lung cancer, and brain metastases from breast cancer are called Imfinzi, Tagriso, and Enhertu. These drugs are either in Phase III trials or late stage development, which means that they can generate significant tailwinds for AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) in the near future. Imfinzi received a priority review from the FDA in August after results from the ADRIATIC phase III trial improved the risk of death by 27%. Enhertu’s phase three trial, called DESTINY achieved a 62% progression free survival rate However, AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)’s shares dropped by 5% in September after the lung cancer drug DATO-Dxd failed to meaningfully improve outcomes. This has led to the firm now trading at a P/E ratio of 38, down three points from late August’s P/E ratio of 41.

AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)’s current drug portfolio is also doing well. Here’s what management shared during the Q2 2024 earnings call:

“As Pascal just highlighted, we have had a very strong start to the year with total revenue increasing 18%. This was driven largely by substantial product sales growth across the portfolio. Alliance revenue also increased by 50% in the first half, mainly driven by an increase in HER2 sales in regions where Daiichi Sankyo record revenue. Please turn to the next slide. This is our core P&L. In the first half, total revenue grew 18%, as I just mentioned, and our core product sales gross margin was 82.4%. We’ve previously said that we anticipate a slightly lower core product sales gross margin for the full year versus 2023, and we expect downward pressure in the second half driven by the usual seasonal impact of medicines such as FluMist, as well as increased before supply, which comes at a lower gross margin.”