NRx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:NRXP) and Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) Head to Head Contrast

Astrazeneca (NYSE:AZN) and NRx Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:NRXP) are both healthcare companies, but which is the better investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, valuation, earnings, profitability, risk, analyst recommendations and dividends.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings for Astrazeneca and NRx Pharmaceuticals, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Astrazeneca	1	3	14	0	2.72
NRx Pharmaceuticals	2	0	5	0	2.43

Astrazeneca currently has a consensus target price of $206.67, suggesting a potential upside of 27.78%. NRx Pharmaceuticals has a consensus target price of $34.50, suggesting a potential upside of 1,081.51%. Given NRx Pharmaceuticals’ higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe NRx Pharmaceuticals is more favorable than Astrazeneca.

Profitability

This table compares Astrazeneca and NRx Pharmaceuticals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Astrazeneca	17.02%	31.45%	13.20%
NRx Pharmaceuticals	-691.81%	N/A	-63.92%

Institutional & Insider Ownership

20.4% of Astrazeneca shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 4.3% of NRx Pharmaceuticals shares are held by institutional investors. 6.4% of NRx Pharmaceuticals shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Risk & Volatility

Astrazeneca has a beta of 0.25, suggesting that its stock price is 75% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NRx Pharmaceuticals has a beta of 2.19, suggesting that its stock price is 119% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Astrazeneca and NRx Pharmaceuticals”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Astrazeneca	$58.74 billion	4.27	$10.22 billion	$6.69	24.18
NRx Pharmaceuticals	$1.23 million	102.79	-$28.62 million	($0.55)	-5.31

Astrazeneca has higher revenue and earnings than NRx Pharmaceuticals. NRx Pharmaceuticals is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Astrazeneca, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Astrazeneca beats NRx Pharmaceuticals on 10 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Astrazeneca

AstraZeneca PLC, a biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the discovery, development, manufacturing, and commercialization of prescription medicines. Its marketed products include Calquence, Enhertu, Faslodex, Imfinzi, Iressa, Koselugo, Lumoxiti, Lynparza, Orpathys, Tagrisso, and Zoladex for oncology; Brilinta/Brilique, Bydureon/Byetta, BCise, Byetta, Crestor, Evrenzo, Farxiga/Forxiga, Komboglyze/Kombiglyze XR, Lokelma, Onglyza, Qtern, and Xigduo/Xigduo XR for cardiovascular, renal, and metabolism diseases; Bevespi Aerosphere, Breztri Aerosphere, Daliresp/Daxas, Duaklir Genuair, Fasenra, Pulmicort, Saphnelo, Symbicort, and Tudorza/Eklira/Bretaris for respiratory and immunology; and Andexxa/Ondexxya, Kanuma, Soliris, Strensiq, and Ultomiris for rare diseases. The company’s marketed products also comprise Synagis for respiratory syncytial virus; Fluenz Tetra/FluMist Quadrivalent for Influenza; Seroquel IR/Seroquel XR for schizophrenia bipolar disease; Nexium, and Losec/Prilosec for gastroenterology; and Vaxzevria and Evusheld for covid-19. The company serves primary care and specialty care physicians through distributors and local representative offices in the United Kingdom, rest of Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. It has a collaboration agreement with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to research, develop, and commercialize small molecule medicines for obesity; Neurimmune AG to develop and commercialize NI006; Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop eplontersen, a liver-targeted antisense therapy in Phase III development for the treatment of transthyretin amyloidosis; Proteros Biostructures GmbH to jointly discover novel small molecules for the treatment of hematological cancers; Sierra Oncology, Inc. to develop and commercialize AZD5153. 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.

About NRx Pharmaceuticals

NRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage bio-pharmaceutical company, develops novel therapeutics for the treatment of central nervous system disorders, including suicidal depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and chronic pain. Its products include NRX-101 (D-cycloserine/Lurasidone), an oral, fixed dosed combination of D-cycloserine and lurasidone that earned food and drug administration-designated breakthrough therapy for suicidal treatment-resistant bipolar depression; and NRX-100 (ketamine), which has been awarded FDA fast track designation for the treatment of severe bipolar depression with acute suicidal ideation and behavior. The company has a partnership with Alvogen Inc. and Lotus Pharmaceutical Company; development and manufacturing agreement with Nephron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Alcami; license agreement with Apkarian Technologies; development and license agreement with Glytech; license agreement with Sarah Herzog Memorial Hospital. The company was founded in 2015 and is based in Wilmington, Delaware.