The last FTSE100 the fall has ruined what I think could have been the best stock in the UK, the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN)? Is this my chance to buy at a scarce discount?

I tend to avoid stocks that soar like this. Murphy’s Law suggests they’ll fall as soon as I climb them. That’s why I avoided AstraZeneca for years, only to watch the stock price rise and rise.

CEO compensation is a controversial topic, but Astra’s Pascal Soriot fully justifies it, having done a great job since joining the company in October 2012.

At the start of his tenure, AstraZeneca’s share price was 2,877 pence. It peaked at 13,274 pence a few days before the latest bout of volatility. That’s a 360% augment. All dividends are up.

Is it possible that it will continue to climb like this?

AstraZeneca is by far the largest company in the UK, with a market capitalisation of around £195bn. Oil giant Shell is a close second with a market capitalisation of just £157bn. I only wish more LSE-listed companies could grow like this one.

The momentum has largely continued, with the stock up 16.41% in the past 12 months, although down 5.5% on the week. That doesn’t mean it’s low-cost, though. AstraZeneca still trades at a staggering 43.03 times earnings. That’s well above the FTSE 100 average of around 15 times.

Can I justify buying at this price? AstraZeneca continues to decline, with first-half revenue up 18% to $25.6 billion. It also raised its full-year 2024 guidance, predicting total revenue and core earnings per share growth in the mid-teens.

All the challenging work Soriot has put into building the company’s drug pipeline is paying off. And as the world gets older and sicker, it’s likely to continue to do so. AstraZeneca also enjoys robust 82% margins on its core products.

It is one of the best growth stocks on the FTSE 100

Investing in pharmaceutical stocks will always involve risk. Bringing drugs to market is an arduous process, with potential failure at every stage.

Successful blockbusters eventually lose their patents, which hits revenues. And there’s the constant risk of litigation, particularly in the US, which can trigger legal claims worth hundreds of millions of dollars. That can hit share prices, as I discovered from owning a stake in a FTSE 100 competitor GSK.

AstraZeneca’s dividend yield is relatively low at 1.53%, but that’s mostly due to the rapidly rising share price. Dividend per share growth has been a bit bumpy, but the overall trend is upward, as this table shows.

Chart by TradingView

This is clearly a brilliant company. My problem is that smarter investors than me figured this out ages ago and are reaping the rewards.

Despite the recent decline I won’t be buying. My GSK shares are trading at just 10.57 times earnings and yield 3.54%. I’ll keep my fingers crossed and hope they catch up with AstraZeneca.