Hi, I’m Christopher Luke Johnson. This is Stock of the Week. AstraZeneca AZN stock appears fairly valued at present, but the key question for investors is whether its double-digit return, year to date, has further to go.
The pharmaceutical giant is entering the weight loss arena with its own product set to rival Eli Lilly’s LLY Mounjaro. It is developing an oral pill and an anti-obesity injection, but it is its pipeline of cancer drugs that will be of most interest to long term investors in the stock.
Having launched a breast cancer treatment which recorded stellar sales of $302 million in the first half of 2025, AstraZeneca is also trialing a new drug to help combat the spread of breast and lung cancer in patients.
If all goes well, the company estimates sales of the drug could bring in close to $6 billion by 2030.
Is AstraZeneca Stock a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
AstraZeneca shares have been steadily ticking upward this year. The stock fell at the beginning of April. The global market rout triggered by President Donald Trump’s tariffs sent markets tumbling.
But since then, AstraZeneca’s shares have been climbing. Year to date the stock is up just over 10%, trading at just over £117. That is still below Morningstar’s fair value estimate of £124, but it is trading in three-star territory which suggests the stock is fairly valued.
At the first-half stage, the company reported a near 30% increase in profits before tax to $6.5 billion dollars.
Can AstraZeneca Stock Continue These Summer Gains?
There is always the risk that lower priced drugs directly compete with AstraZeneca’s leading lung cancer drug, but analysts say it’s healthy oncology portfolio leaves it well positioned to drive major cash flows over the next decade.
Morningstar analyst Jay Lee is confident that AstraZeneca can hold its own as a leading maker of cancer busting drugs. AstraZeneca has already taken steps to mitigate the risks posed by President Donald Trump’s tariffs by investing some $50 billion into its US expansion, this makes it the largest manufacturing investment in AstraZeneca’s history.
Whether that could foreshadow a larger shift for AstraZeneca into the US is a question that has worried investors ever since the chief executive of the UK’s largest FTSE 100 company, by market value, was reported to be reconsidering Astra’s UK listing.
With cancer claiming the lives of more than 160,000 people a year in the UK alone, the race is on to deliver cancer busting drugs, and AstraZeneca’s proposition can help reach the CEO’s target of delivering $80 billion in revenue by 2030.
