AZN vs. ILMN: AstraZeneca vs. Illumina Stock Comparison

Company Profile

AstraZeneca (AZN) and Illumina (ILMN) both fall under the Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Life Sciences industry group, but AZN is classified in Pharmaceuticals while ILMN is classified in Life Sciences Tools & Services.

Illumina (ILMN) trades as ordinary local shares, while AstraZeneca (AZN) trades as an ADR — compare with FX exposure, depositary-program fees, and dividend-withholding-tax differences in mind.

Price Performance

Cumulative Growth

Trailing Returns

Calendar-Year Returns

Performance Metrics

Risk Profile

Drawdown History

Return Distribution

Risk Metrics

Illumina (ILMN) has an aggressive beta of 1.46, indicating higher sensitivity to broad-market moves, while AstraZeneca (AZN) is defensive at 0.22 and tends to be less market-sensitive — they sit on opposite ends of the beta spectrum.

Risk-Adjusted Performance

Risk-Return Positioning

Risk-Adjusted Metrics

Profitability

Both AstraZeneca (AZN) at 22.57% and Illumina (ILMN) at 32.39% sit in the top peer quartile for ROE, suggesting each generates more profit from shareholders’ equity than typical industry peers.

Illumina (ILMN) at 19.72% keeps the most of each sales dollar — above its industry’s net margin range — and AstraZeneca (AZN) at 17.68% also retains a top-quartile share.

Both AstraZeneca (AZN) at 29.57% and Illumina (ILMN) at 20.02% convert sales into operating profit at a top-quartile rate, pointing to tighter cost discipline before financing and tax.

Profitability Metrics

Growth

AstraZeneca (AZN) at 8.63% is around its peer norm for revenue growth, while Illumina (ILMN) at -0.66% drops into the bottom quartile, signaling weaker demand or pricing momentum.

Only one side can be read here: AstraZeneca (AZN) reports EPS growth of 45.33%, ranked against its industry; Illumina (ILMN) has no EPS growth figure this period.

Growth Metrics

Financial Strength

Illumina (ILMN) at 2.63 keeps current ratio within its industry’s typical mid-range, while AstraZeneca (AZN) at 1.01 runs in the tighter-liquidity quartile — a thinner cushion against current liabilities for AZN.

Both AstraZeneca (AZN) at 0.66 and Illumina (ILMN) at 0.74 lean more heavily on debt funding than most peers, landing in the higher-leverage quartile of their industries.

Financial Strength Metrics

Dividends

Illumina (ILMN) pays no dividend (yield 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile AstraZeneca (AZN) reports a yield of 1.73%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Illumina (ILMN) pays no dividend (payout 0.00%) — it may be reinvesting, using buybacks, or simply not returning cash through dividends. Meanwhile AstraZeneca (AZN) reports a payout of 45.38%, ranking against industry peers normally.

Dividend Metrics

Valuation

Both AstraZeneca (AZN) at 26.37 and Illumina (ILMN) at 36.68 land around their industries’ usual P/E ratio levels — neither is getting a clear earnings-multiple discount or premium versus peers.

On P/S ratio, both AstraZeneca (AZN) at 4.63 and Illumina (ILMN) at 7.10 are priced roughly in line with their industries — neither looks cheap nor rich on a sales basis.

AstraZeneca (AZN) at 5.59 is valued about in line with its industry on P/B ratio, while Illumina (ILMN) at 10.30 carries an above-peer premium to book — ILMN is pricier on assets.

Valuation Metrics