10 Best Global Stocks To Buy Now

4. AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders In Q2 2024: 49

AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN) is a British pharmaceutical company that shot to fame with its coronavirus vaccine. Since the start of 2021, its shares have gained 56%, even though the virus is now a thing of the past. This share price gain, which has accompanied a 70% revenue growth on an absolute basis between 2020 and 2023, is based primarily on AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)’s ability to leverage its research and development capabilities to develop new drugs. On this front, the firm is developing drugs for small cell lung cancer, stage three lung cancer, and brain metastases from breast cancer. AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)’s treatments that target these ailments are Imfinzi, Tagriso, and Enhertu, respectively. Imfinzi and Enhertu have performed well in phase three trials, with the former having improved the risk of death by 27% while the latter has a progression free survival rate of 62%. Consequently, AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)’s shares gained 28% between the start of the year and the August close. However, the shares have lost 10% in September so far, primarily due to the lung cancer drug DATO-Dxd failing to meet investor expectations. Looking ahead, AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)’s hypothesis depends on these treatments, with tailwinds in case of strong trial performance.

During the Q2 2024 earnings call, AstraZeneca PLC (NASDAQ:AZN)’s management also highlighted its current drug portfolio:

“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.”