AstraZeneca is Thursday's pick for IBD 50 Growth Stocks To Watch as the biopharmaceutical name is holding up relatively well in a declining market. AstraZeneca stock is nearing a buy point after climbing for seven straight weeks.
The IBD 50 drug stock is rising around 1.2% Thursday and outpacing the struggling major indexes. Some investors have looked outside the U.S. for stocks to buy amid market weakness. And AstraZeneca is based in the U.K. Similar chart action can be seen in the iShares Core MSCI Europe exchange traded fund.
The biopharmaceutical company develops drugs for cancer, immune, cardiovascular, kidney and rare diseases as well as vaccines.
What To Do When Growth Stocks Backtrack To Test Buy Points
AstraZeneca Stock Nears Buy Point
AstraZeneca stock is nearing the 78.36 buy point of a cup-with-handle base, according to MarketSurge pattern recognition.
Shares are recovering from a two-day sell-off earlier this week and reclaimed their 200-day moving average Wednesday. And AstraZeneca's 50-day moving average and 21-day exponential moving average are both rising as the stock improves.
Its relative strength line has climbed sharply from November lows, as it far outpaced the S&P 500. AstraZeneca stock has gained nearly 17% this year thus far while the S&P 500 index has dropped around 5%.
Its IBD Accumulation/Distribution Rating of A indicates fairly heavy institutional buying over the last 13 weeks. And its volume has been trending higher on rising weeks, which is a positive sign for the stock, as purchases by big money managers can help boost the stock price. In addition, its 1.8 up/down volume ratio shows positive demand for the stock over the last 50 days.
AstraZeneca's IBD Relative Strength Rating climbed to 80 from 61 four weeks ago. Its 80 rating means the stock outperformed 80% of stocks in Investor's Business Daily's database over the last 12 months.
Drugmaker's Profit Growth Picks Up
AstraZeneca's earnings growth has improved over the last two quarters. Its fourth-quarter profit increased 44%, up from 20% in the prior quarter and a decline of 8% two quarters ago.
AstraZeneca beat fourth-quarter earnings and sales estimates on Feb. 6. Its quarterly revenue grew 24%, with its cancer treatment business increasing 27%.
The company guided high single-digit percentage revenue growth for full-year 2025, with its core profit expected to increase in the low double-digits.
Management has a long-term growth vision for the company.
"This year marks the beginning of an unprecedented, catalyst-rich period for our company, an important step on our Ambition 2030 journey to deliver $80 billion total revenue by the end of the decade," AstraZeneca Chief Executive Pascal Soriot said in the earnings release.
Revising The Estimates
Analysts' full-year 2025 estimates have been recently revised to 9% growth in 2025 then 13% in 2026.
AstraZeneca has been a steady profit grower as seen in its Earnings Stability factor of 7 out of 99 possible — with a lower number being better.
It holds robust 97 Composite and Earnings Per Share Ratings.
Lastly, the biotech stock pays a dividend to shareholders of nearly 2%.
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