Is downgrade cycle levelling off a signal to buy AstraZeneca stock?

Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) shares have been weak, as defensive stocks retrench from mid-year highs, say analysts at Panmure Gordon, who note that “this is partly sector wide, but in AstraZeneca’s case we have seen a sequence of market downgrades dominate the year to date.”

They say in a client note this morning (September 12): “As we compare our forecasts with consensus circulated by the company yesterday, we acknowledge our numbers were probably too bullish. Therefore we make changes which result in EPS downgrades of 0.5%, 6.8% and 16.2% to FY2013, FY2014 and FY2015 forecasts respectively. We remain on Hold recommendation.”