Head-To-Head Contrast: Lifecore Biomedical (NASDAQ:LFCR) vs. Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN)

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) and Lifecore Biomedical (NASDAQ:LFCR) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their earnings, analyst recommendations, dividends, valuation, risk, profitability and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a breakdown of recent ratings and recommmendations for Astrazeneca and Lifecore Biomedical, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Astrazeneca	0	4	15	0	2.79
Lifecore Biomedical	1	4	0	0	1.80

Astrazeneca currently has a consensus price target of $206.67, indicating a potential upside of 19.71%. Lifecore Biomedical has a consensus price target of $6.50, indicating a potential upside of 2.04%. Given Astrazeneca’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, equities analysts plainly believe Astrazeneca is more favorable than Lifecore Biomedical.

Risk and Volatility

Astrazeneca has a beta of 0.27, suggesting that its share price is 73% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Lifecore Biomedical has a beta of 0.98, suggesting that its share price is 2% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Astrazeneca and Lifecore Biomedical”s revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Astrazeneca	$58.74 billion	4.56	$10.22 billion	$6.69	25.81
Lifecore Biomedical	$128.87 million	1.87	-$40.50 million	($1.07)	-5.95

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

Profitability

This table compares Astrazeneca and Lifecore Biomedical’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Astrazeneca	17.02%	31.45%	13.20%
Lifecore Biomedical	-29.93%	N/A	-16.16%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

20.4% of Astrazeneca shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 83.4% of Lifecore Biomedical shares are held by institutional investors. 32.7% of Lifecore Biomedical shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Summary

Astrazeneca beats Lifecore Biomedical on 11 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Astrazeneca

AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of prescription medicines. Its marketed products include Calquence, Enhertu, Faslodex, Imfinzi, Iressa, Koselugo, Lumoxiti, Lynparza, Orpathys, Tagrisso, and Zoladex for oncology; Brilinta/Brilique, Bydureon/Byetta, BCise, Byetta, Crestor, Evrenzo, Farxiga/Forxiga, Komboglyze/Kombiglyze XR, Lokelma, Onglyza, Qtern, and Xigduo/Xigduo XR for cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism diseases; Bevespi Aerosphere, Breztri Aerosphere, Daliresp/Daxas, Duaklir Genuair, Fasenra, Pulmicort, Saphnelo, Symbicort, and Tudorza/Eklira/Bretaris for respiratory and immunology; and Andexxa/Ondexxya, Kanuma, Soliris, Strensiq, and Ultomiris for rare diseases. The company’s marketed products also comprise Synagis for respiratory syncytial virus; Fluenz Tetra/FluMist Quadrivalent for Influenza; Seroquel IR/Seroquel XR for schizophrenia bipolar disease; Nexium, and Losec/Prilosec for gastroenterology; and Vaxzevria and Evusheld for covid-19. 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 Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to research, develop, and commercialize small molecule medicines for obesity; Neurimmune AG to develop and commercialize NI006; Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop eplontersen, a liver-targeted antisense therapy in Phase III development for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis; Proteros Biostructures GmbH to jointly discover novel small molecules for the treatment of hematological cancers; Sierra Oncology, Inc. to develop and commercialize AZD5153. 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 Lifecore Biomedical

Lifecore Biomedical, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as an integrated contract development and manufacturing organization in the United States and internationally. The company engages in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical-grade sodium hyaluronate (HA) in bulk form, as well as formulated and filled syringes and vials for injectable products used in treating a range of medical conditions and procedures. It also provides services, such as technology development, material component changes, analytical method development, formulation development, pilot studies, stability studies, process validation, and production of materials for clinical studies to its partners for HA-based and non-HA based aseptically formulated and filled products. The company was formerly known as Landec Corporation and changed its name to Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. in November 2022. Lifecore Biomedical, Inc. was founded in 1965 and is headquartered in Chaska, Minnesota.