Sifting through countless of stocks in the Pharmaceuticals industry can be tedious, and sometimes two stocks are just too similar to judge which is the better investment. If you’re on the fence about investing in Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC or AstraZeneca PLC because you’re not sure how they measure up, it’s important to compare them on a few factors before making your decision.

Read on to learn how Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC and AstraZeneca PLC compare based on key financial metrics to determine which better meets your investment needs.

About Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC and AstraZeneca PLC

Eli Lilly and Company discovers, develops, manufactures, and markets human pharmaceutical products in the United States, Europe, China, Japan, and internationally. The company offers cardiometabolic health products, including Basaglar, Humalog, Humalog Mix 75/25, Humalog U-100, Humalog U-200, Humalog Mix 50/50, insulin lispro, insulin lispro protamine, insulin lispro mix 75/25, Humulin, Humulin 70/30, Humulin N, Humulin R, Humulin U-500 for diabetes; Jardiance, Mounjaro, and Trulicity for type 2 diabetes; and Zepbound for obesity. It also provides oncology products, such as Cyramza for the second-line treatment of gastric cancer or gastro-esophageal junction adenocarcinoma; Erbitux for colorectal cancers and head and neck cancers; Inluriyo for breast cancer; Jaypirca for chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma; Retevmo for the treatment of metastatic NSCLC; TYVYT for classic hodgkin’s lymphoma; and Verzenio for breast cancer. In addition, the company offers immunology products, which include Ebglyss for severe atopic dermatitis; Olumiant for rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, severe alopecia areata, and COVID-19; Omvoh for ulcerative colitis; and Taltz for plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and non-radiographic axial spondylarthritis. Further, it provides Emgality for migraine prevention and episodic cluster headache, as well as Kisubla for symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease. The company has collaborations with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for the Jardiance product family; and F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd and Genentech, Inc. for lebrikizumab, as well as license agreements with Almirall, S.A. for Ebglyss; and Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd for orforglipron; strategic collaboration with Ascidian Therapeutics for development of therapies for undisclosed monogenic kidney diseases; and BioArctic AB (publ) for new treatment. Eli Lilly and Company was founded in 1876 and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacture, and commercialization of prescription medicines. The company offers Imjudo, Datroway, Iressa, Tagrisso, Imfinzi, Lynparza, Calquence, Enhertu, Orpathys, Truqap, Zoladex, Faslodex, Crestor, Andexxa, Onglyza, Symlin, XIGDUO XR, Atacand, Atacand HCT, Atacand Plus, Farxiga/Forxiga, Plendil, Modip, Splendil, Munobal, Flodil, Tenormin, Tenormine, Prenormine, Atenol, Zestril, Brilinta/Brilique, Komboglyze, Qtern, Wainua, Byetta, Lokelma, Seloken ZOK, Toprol-XL, Betaloc ZOK, XIGDUO, Accolate, Accoleit, Vanticon, Bricanyl Respules, Eklira Genuair/Tudorza/Bretaris, Pulmicort Turbuhaler, Symbicort Turbuhaler, Airsupra, Bricanyl Turbuhaler, Fasenra, Rhinocort, Tezspire, Bevespi Aerosphere, Daliresp/Daxas, Oxis Turbuhaler, Saphnelo, Breztri Aerosphere, Duaklir Genuair, Pulmicort Respules, and Symbicort pMDI. It also provides Beyfortus, Kavigale, Evusheld, Fluenz/FluMist, Synagis, Kanuma, Ultomiris, Koselugo, Voydeya, Soliris, Strensiq, Nexium, and other medicines. The company offers its products for ocology, cardiovascular, renal and metabolism, respiratory & immunology, vaccines and immune, and therapies rare diseases. It serves primary and specialty care physicians through distributors and local representative offices in the United Kingdom, the Americas, rest of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. It has a strategic agreement with Tempus and Pathos to develop the largest multimodal foundation model in oncology; CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Limited to advance the discovery and development of novel oral candidates, with the potential to treat diseases across multiple indications; and Nucs AI Inc. to develop AI-driven Response Prediction for Therapeutic Radioconjugates. 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.

AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacture, and commercialization of prescription medicines. The company offers Imjudo, Datroway, Iressa, Tagrisso, Imfinzi, Lynparza, Calquence, Enhertu, Orpathys, Truqap, Zoladex, Faslodex, Crestor, Andexxa, Onglyza, Symlin, XIGDUO XR, Atacand, Atacand HCT, Atacand Plus, Farxiga/Forxiga, Plendil, Modip, Splendil, Munobal, Flodil, Tenormin, Tenormine, Prenormine, Atenol, Zestril, Brilinta/Brilique, Komboglyze, Qtern, Wainua, Byetta, Lokelma, Seloken ZOK, Toprol-XL, Betaloc ZOK, XIGDUO, Accolate, Accoleit, Vanticon, Bricanyl Respules, Eklira Genuair/Tudorza/Bretaris, Pulmicort Turbuhaler, Symbicort Turbuhaler, Airsupra, Bricanyl Turbuhaler, Fasenra, Rhinocort, Tezspire, Bevespi Aerosphere, Daliresp/Daxas, Oxis Turbuhaler, Saphnelo, Breztri Aerosphere, Duaklir Genuair, Pulmicort Respules, and Symbicort pMDI. It also provides Beyfortus, Kavigale, Evusheld, Fluenz/FluMist, Synagis, Kanuma, Ultomiris, Koselugo, Voydeya, Soliris, Strensiq, Nexium, and other medicines. The company offers its products for ocology, cardiovascular, renal and metabolism, respiratory & immunology, vaccines and immune, and therapies rare diseases. It serves primary and specialty care physicians through distributors and local representative offices in the United Kingdom, the Americas, rest of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. It has a strategic agreement with Tempus and Pathos to develop the largest multimodal foundation model in oncology; CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Limited to advance the discovery and development of novel oral candidates, with the potential to treat diseases across multiple indications; and Nucs AI Inc. to develop AI-driven Response Prediction for Therapeutic Radioconjugates. 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.

Latest Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC Stock News

As of September 2, 2026, Eli Lilly and Company had a $1.0 trillion market capitalization, compared to the Pharmaceuticals median of $674.0 million. Eli Lilly and Company’s stock is NA in 2026, NA in the previous five trading days and up 57.79% in the past year.

Currently, Eli Lilly and Company’s price-earnings ratio is 38.9. Eli Lilly and Company’s trailing 12-month revenue is $79.7 billion with a 33.5% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 47.7%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $36.711 per share for the current fiscal year. Eli Lilly and Company currently has a 0.6% dividend yield.

Currently, AstraZeneca PLC’s price-earnings ratio is 24.2. AstraZeneca PLC’s trailing 12-month revenue is $61.4 billion with a 17.0% net profit margin. Year-over-year quarterly sales growth most recently was 6.4%. Analysts expect adjusted earnings to reach $10.053 per share for the current fiscal year. AstraZeneca PLC currently has a 1.5% dividend yield.

How We Compare Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC and AstraZeneca PLC Stock Grades

Stock evaluation requires access to huge amounts of data and the knowledge and time to sift through it all, make sense of financial ratios, read income statements and analyze recent stock movements. AAII created A+ Investor, a robust data suite that condenses data research in an actionable and customizable way suitable for investors of all knowledge levels, to help investors streamline and work through such data.

AAII’s proprietary stock grades come with A+ Investor. These offer intuitive A‐F grades for each of five key investing factors: value, growth, momentum, earnings estimate revisions and quality. Here, we’ll take a closer look at Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC and AstraZeneca PLC’s stock grades to see how they measure up against one another.

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Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC and AstraZeneca PLC Stock Value Grades

Company	Ticker	Value
Eli Lilly and Company	LLY	F
AstraZeneca PLC	AZN	D
AstraZeneca PLC	AZN	D

Successful stock investing involves buying low and selling high, so stock valuation is an important consideration for stock selection.

Buying stocks that are going to go up typically means buying stocks that are undervalued in the first place, although momentum investors may argue that point.

AAII’s A+ Investor Value Grade derives from a stock’s value score. The Value Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of the price-to-sales ratio, price-earnings ratio, enterprise-value-to-EBITDA (EV/EBITDA) ratio, shareholder yield, price-to-book-value ratio and price-to-free-cash-flow ratio. The score is variable, meaning it can consider all six ratios or, should any of the six ratios not be valid, the remaining ratios that are valid. To be assigned a Value Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) ratio and corresponding ranking for at least two of the six valuation ratios.

Stocks with a Value Score from 81 to 100 are considered deep value, those with a score between 61 and 80 are a good value and so on.

Eli Lilly and Company has a Value Score of 8, which is Ultra Expensive. AstraZeneca PLC has a Value Score of 26, which is Expensive. AstraZeneca PLC has a Value Score of 26, which is Expensive.

The Value Stock Winner: No Clear Winner

Neither Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC or AstraZeneca PLC has a high enough value grade to be considered a “winner.” Investors who are considering these companies should do additional due diligence and research to see if either could be a good addition to their portfolio. It’s important to look at a wide range of financial metrics in order to determine if Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC or AstraZeneca PLC is the better investment when it comes to value.

Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC and AstraZeneca PLC Growth Grades

Company	Ticker	Growth
Eli Lilly and Company	LLY	B
AstraZeneca PLC	AZN	A
AstraZeneca PLC	AZN	A

The foundation of growth investing is seeking out stocks of companies exhibiting strong, consistent and prolonged growth that is expected to continue into the future.

In order to compute the growth score and assign it a letter grade, the percentile ranks for each of three components‐consistency of annual sales growth, five-year sales growth rankings adjusted for extreme levels, and consistency of positive annual cash from operations‐must be determined. These three rank figures are added together, and the sum is ranked against the entire stock universe to arrive at a company’s Growth Score to create an equal distribution of grades.

The companies in the bottom 20% of the stock universe receive Growth Grades of F, considered to be very weak, while those in the top 20% receive A grades, which are considered very strong.

Eli Lilly and Company has a Growth Score of 69, which is Strong. AstraZeneca PLC has a Growth Score of 89, which is Very Strong. AstraZeneca PLC has a Growth Score of 89, which is Very Strong.

The Growth Grade Winner: AstraZeneca PLC

As you can clearly see from the Growth Grade breakdown above, AstraZeneca PLC has a more attractive growth grade than Eli Lilly and Company. For investors who focus solely on how a company is growing relative to other companies in the same industry, AstraZeneca PLC could be a good stock to add to their portfolio. However, it’s important for investors to analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before deciding whether to buy.

Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC and AstraZeneca PLC’s Quality Grades

Company	Ticker	Quality
Eli Lilly and Company	LLY	A
AstraZeneca PLC	AZN	A
AstraZeneca PLC	AZN	A

Like the Value Grade, AAII’s A+ Investor Quality Grade comes from the percentile rank of key metrics. Specifically, the Quality Score is the percentile rank of the average of the percentile ranks of return on assets (ROA), return on invested capital (ROIC), gross profit relative to assets, buyback yield, change in total liabilities to assets, accruals, Z double prime bankruptcy risk (Z) score and the F-Score.

The score is variable, meaning it can consider all eight measures or, should any of the eight measures not be valid, the remaining measures that are valid. To be assigned a Quality Score, stocks must have a valid (non-null) measure and corresponding ranking for at least four of the eight quality measures.

The Quality Score is used to assess the underlying “quality” of a particular stock. A higher-quality stock possesses traits associated with upside potential and reduced downside risk. Backtesting of the Quality Grade shows that stocks with higher grades, on average, outperformed stocks with lower grades over the period of 1998 through 2019.

Stocks receive better grades (higher scores) for having higher scores for the quality subcomponents and worse grades (lower scores) for lower scores for the subcomponents.

Eli Lilly and Company has a Quality Score of 90, which is Very Strong. AstraZeneca PLC has a Quality Score of 92, which is Very Strong. AstraZeneca PLC has a Quality Score of 92, which is Very Strong.

The Quality Grade Winner: It’s a Tie!

Looking at the Quality Grade breakdown above, both Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC and AstraZeneca PLC have a grade of A. For investors who focus solely on a company’s overall quality, you will need to conduct further research into both companies to see if they are a good fit for your portfolio. As a good rule of thumb, you should always analyze multiple factors based on a wide range of metrics before choosing a company to invest in.

Other Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC and AstraZeneca PLC Grades

In addition to Quality, Value and Growth, A+ Investor also provides grades for Momentum and Estimate Revisions.

Momentum grades help uncover stocks experiencing anomalously high rates of return; research finds that stocks with high relative levels of momentum tend to outperform, whereas those with low levels of momentum tend to continue underperforming.

Earnings estimate revisions scores take into account the magnitude of a company’s earnings surprise in its last two reported fiscal quarters. Often, surprises beget further surprises‐or at least continued sales growth (the exact opposite is generally true, too).

These 2 key factors, when combined with the above, provide a holistic view into a particular stock. Further, by joining A+ Investor you can see whether Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC and AstraZeneca PLC pass any of our 60+ stock screens that have outperformed the market since their creation.

So, Which Is the Better Investment, Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC or AstraZeneca PLC Stock?

Overall, Eli Lilly and Company stock has a Value Score of 8, Growth Score of 69 and Quality Score of 90.

AstraZeneca PLC stock has a Value Score of 26, Growth Score of 89 and Quality Score of 92.

AstraZeneca PLC stock has a Value Score of 26, Growth Score of 89 and Quality Score of 92.

Comparing Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca PLC and AstraZeneca PLC’s grades, scores and metrics can act as a solid basis to determine whether they may be a good investment or not. You’ll also want to look at your portfolio’s asset allocation as well as your risk tolerance and financial goals to see if either of these stocks would make a good fit for you. AAII can help you figure out which investments align with your individual needs and preferences.

Investors are encouraged to do their own due diligence and research. In this way, individuals can effectively become managers of their own assets‐without having to rely on others for financial independence. You can count on AAII for timeless articles on financial planning and stock-picking, unbiased research and actionable analysis.

A+ Investor adds to our qualitative teaching with a powerful data suite to help you whittle down investment choices to find stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or mutual funds that meet your needs.

AAII Disclaimer

We make no representations or warranties that any investor will, or is likely to, achieve profits similar to those shown, because past, hypothetical or simulated performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Before making an investment decision, you should consider your circumstances and whether the information on our content is applicable to your situation. This information was prepared in good faith, and we accept no liability for any errors or omissions. The full disclaimer can be read here.