Verdict: Side-by-side breakdown using the Bull Rankings model. AZN scored 72.0, LLY scored 77.3 — LLY leads.
Compare another set
Different reporting periods. LLY's fundamentals are as of June 2026, but AZN's are as of December 2025 — a 6-month gap. Growth, margin and valuation figures below therefore describe different windows and aren't strictly like-for-like.
AZN
AstraZeneca PLC
Drug Manufacturers - General · Quality-Growth
72
$159.20 · $246.9B
fundamentals as of
Score gap
5.3
LLY leads
LLY
Eli Lilly and Company
Drug Manufacturers - General · Quality-Growth
77.3
$1,179.27 · $1.1T
fundamentals as of
At a glance · who leads each dimension, on the model's own rules
CheapestAZN23.8x
Fastest growthLLY+49.6%
Strongest balance sheetAZN0.64
Highest qualityLLY79 / 100
Side by side · every name on one set of axes
Growth against the P/E multiple. Up and to the right is cheaper and faster — the quality-growth idea in one picture. Points beyond the axis are pinned to the edge and marked off-scale rather than allowed to compress everything else.
The model, pillar by pillar (0–100 each)
AZN
stronger →← stronger
LLY
78
Qualityreturns · margins · balance sheet
79
78
Growthrevenue & earnings expansion
97
61
Valuevaluation vs sector peers
60
LLY is stronger on 2 of 3 pillars.
Fundamentals, head-to-head
AZN
LLY
$11.8bA-
FCF
$13.6bA-
+8.6%B
Rev
+49.6%A
0.64C+
D/E
1.62C
23.8xB+
P/E
39.6xC+
1.12B+
PEG
1.13B+
Winner per row is the stronger grade; where grades tie, the better figure breaks it. A true tie or a missing value shows no highlight.
Valuation · DCF cross-check
AZN
LLY
11% above
Price vs fair valuelower is cheaper
234% above
~12%/yr
Growth the price impliesyr-1 FCF growth, fading to 4% · lower = less priced in
~48%/yr
-22%
1-yr DCF upside
-77%
-10%
5-yr DCF upside
-70%
+10%
10-yr DCF upside
-56%
The DCF is a cross-check on intrinsic value, separate from the quality-growth score above.
Model signals
AZN
Why this score
Raising its dividend
LLY
Why this score
Raising its dividend
Durable high returns
The companies
AZNAstraZeneca PLC
Drug Manufacturers - General · $159.20 · beta 0.21
Why now
Drug Manufacturers - General · market cap $246.9b. Down 25% from 52-week high of $212.71 — deep drawdown territory. 12 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $206.91 (implying +30% upside).
Moat
Net margin 17% beats the market median by a meaningful margin — the company is keeping more of every revenue dollar than the average S&P constituent. ROE 21% is above 15% — the equity base is compounding at a rate the market struggles to discount accurately. FCF converts 115% of net income — earnings translate cleanly into cash.
Risk
Trial-readout binary — late-stage clinical trials carry approve/reject outcomes that swing valuation 30%+; the equity is effectively a portfolio of these binary events, not a steady cash-flow business.
LLYEli Lilly and Company
Drug Manufacturers - General · $1,179.27 · beta 0.45
Why now
Drug Manufacturers - General · market cap $1.1T. 9% off the 52-week high of $1292.65. Revenue growing +50% — in hypergrowth territory. 29 sell-side analysts rate this a Buy with a mean 1-yr target of $1,330 (implying +13% upside).
Moat
Net margin 34% is exceptional — pricing-power territory rare outside premium software, branded staples, and specialty pharma. ROE 79% — top-decile capital efficiency. Either pricing leverage, low capital intensity, or aggressive buybacks; the durability story depends on which. $1.1T market cap places it among the largest companies in the sector — distribution, R&D, and customer-acquisition costs amortize across a base peers can't replicate.
Risk
Trailing P/E 40x sits well above the S&P median (~20x) — multiple compression is a real risk if revenue growth decelerates. P/S 13.2x embeds aggressive forward growth — disappointing top-line guidance would compress the multiple hard. Trial-readout binary — late-stage clinical trials carry approve/reject outcomes that swing valuation 30%+; the equity is effectively a portfolio of these binary events, not a steady cash-flow business.
Verdict — model-derived comparison
Generating verdict… typically 5–10 seconds
Not investment advice. The Bull Rankings publishes a quantitative ranking model and accompanying analysis for general informational purposes only. Nothing on this page is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security; nothing is personalized to your circumstances, risk tolerance, or tax situation. Investing carries the risk of loss — invest at your own risk and consider consulting a licensed financial professional before acting on anything you read here. See terms and methodology for full disclosures.
Where AZN and LLY diverge
On the headline score the gap is 5.3 points in favor of LLY. The widest single difference is Growth, where LLY leads by 18.5 points.
GrowthAZN 78.5 · LLY 97.0LLY +18.5
QualityAZN 77.8 · LLY 79.2level
ValueAZN 61.1 · LLY 60.1level
Pillars run 0–100. Value is judged against each company's own sector, so a Value score is a statement about a company relative to its own industry rather than to the other name here. A wide Value gap usually means the market already prices the difference in quality or growth — which is the trade-off this comparison comes down to.
Common questions
Is LLY or AZN the better stock?
LLY scores higher: LLY 77.3, AZN 72.0 out of 100 on the Bull Rankings quality-growth score, which blends business quality, growth and valuation into one number. A higher score means a stronger business at a more reasonable price — it is not a price target or a recommendation.
Where do LLY and AZN differ most?
The widest gap is growth, where LLY leads by 19 points on the 0–100 pillar scale. The other two pillars are close enough to call level, so this is the one place they genuinely separate.
How are LLY and AZN scored?
Each carries the same 0–100 quality-growth score used everywhere on the site, built from three pillars — quality (profitability and returns on capital), growth (revenue and earnings), and value (what you pay for them) — combined as a geometric mean, so a weak pillar cannot be papered over by a strong one.
How current is this comparison?
The whole universe is re-scored every trading day after the US market close, so the scores and fundamentals here reflect the latest published edition.