Second quarter revenue up 5% to $15.4bn (consensus: £15.5bn) before currency moves. Core earnings per share up 18% to $2.63 (consensus: $2.48)
On track to meet full-year guidance
30 major approvals since 2025 results
Derren Nathan, head of equity research, Hargreaves Lansdown:
“Talk of AstraZeneca's R&D pulse weakening looks a little premature. The second-quarter results should provide some reassurance following the recent knee-jerk reaction to disappointing clinical data from heart disease medicine, Wainua. It's proving to be a difficult period across the metabolic health franchise, as medicines including Farxiga and Brilinta move beyond exclusivity. But Astra's leadership in new ways of fighting cancer continues to shine through, with strong performances from the likes of immunotherapy Imfinzi and breast cancer medicine, Enhertu. The focus on high-value speciality medicines has helped deliver an earnings beat, despite only modest top-line growth.
Encouragingly, improving margins aren't coming at the expense of investment in the company's future growth engine, with underlying R&D spending ticking up another 5% to $3.7bn- a healthy 24% of revenues. Clinical failures are part and parcel of drug development, but 30 approvals in major regions since the full-year results are an impressive number and suggest AstraZeneca's research pipeline still has a strong heartbeat. Markets may be a little frustrated by the lack of an upgrade to either short- or medium-term guidance. But with more than 20 high-value clinical readouts due over the next 18 months, there are plenty of opportunities for AstraZeneca to keep proving the health of its pipeline and exceed its ambition of generating $80bn in annual revenue by 2030.”
Notes to Editors
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