AstraZeneca (AZN)
The largest company on the FTSE 100 and one of the few genuinely world-class businesses on the index. Valuing it means valuing a pipeline of drugs that do not exist yet.
The business
AstraZeneca discovers, manufactures and sells prescription medicines, concentrated in oncology, cardiovascular and metabolic disease, respiratory, and rare disease. Oncology and rare disease are the growth engines.
H1 2026 total revenue was $30.7bn, up 9%, with core earnings per share up 12% to $5.21. The company has a stated ambition of $80bn total revenue by 2030.
The numbers that matter
All figures as reported on the dates shown. Nothing on this page updates with the share price — the live valuation sits in the app.
| Measure | Latest reported | |
|---|---|---|
| H1 2026 total revenue | $30.7bn | +9% |
| Core EPS, H1 2026 | $5.21 | +12% |
| 2030 revenue ambition | $80bn | company target |
| Phase III wins, H1 | 6 programmes | plus 8 first approvals |
| Notable setback | CARDIO-TTRansform | management called it a disappointment |
| Readouts due | 20+ over 18 months | pipeline is the moat |
The moat
Patents, and almost nothing else. A successful drug has close to total pricing power for the life of its patent and close to none the day it expires — generics arrive and revenue falls off a cliff. This is the clearest example of a time-limited moat in the whole market.
What makes the moat durable at group level is the pipeline: the ability to keep producing new patented drugs faster than old ones expire. AstraZeneca reported six positive Phase III programmes and eight first approvals in H1 2026, with more than twenty high-value readouts due over the following eighteen months.
What to check before you value it
The patent cliff, drug by drug
Revenue is only as durable as the patents behind it. H1 2026 growth absorbed the loss of US exclusivity on Farxiga. Knowing which products expire when matters more than the current growth rate.
Pipeline failures as well as successes
Management called the CARDIO-TTRansform outcome a disappointment in the same statement as the strong results. Trials fail routinely, and a single Phase III failure can remove billions of expected revenue.
China exposure
Volume-based procurement in China was a headwind in H1 2026. Chinese pricing policy is a live and unpredictable variable for every large pharmaceutical group.
Reported versus core earnings
AstraZeneca guides on a core basis and states it cannot reliably forecast reported results because of acquisition-related fair value adjustments, impairments and legal provisions. Know which basis a figure is on.
Recent filings
Dated announcements only. Figures below were reported on the dates shown and are not updated as the share price moves.
How Oak Growth scores it
Oak Growth runs a discounted cash flow on AstraZeneca and publishes the assumptions behind it — the discount rate, the growth rate and the terminal value — alongside a margin of safety against the live price. It also scores the company on the four pillars: moat, management, economics and value, in that order, because price comes last. The live figures sit in the app rather than on this page, so nothing here goes stale.
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Is AstraZeneca a good long-term investment?
It is one of the largest and most research-intensive companies on the FTSE 100, with H1 2026 revenue up 9% and a stated ambition of $80bn revenue by 2030. The central risk is patent expiry: revenue depends on replacing drugs that lose exclusivity, which makes the pipeline the thing to judge rather than current earnings.
What is AstraZeneca's biggest risk?
Patent expiry combined with trial failure. A drug loses most of its value the day generics arrive, so the company must keep producing new approvals. Management reported both eight first approvals and one significant trial disappointment in the same half-year statement.
Why is AstraZeneca's reported profit different from its core profit?
Reported figures include acquisition-related fair value adjustments, intangible asset impairments and legal settlement provisions. The company states it cannot reliably forecast these, so it guides on a core basis. Comparing a core figure to a reported one gives a misleading picture.
What does volume-based procurement in China mean?
A Chinese government purchasing system that awards large volumes to the lowest bidders, which cuts prices sharply for the drugs included. It was cited as a headwind to AstraZeneca's H1 2026 revenue growth.
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