In the latest trading session, Merck (MRK – Free Report) closed at $89.23, marking a +1.86% move from the previous day. This move outpaced the S&P 500’s daily loss of 1.97%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a drop of 1.69%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw a decrease of 2.7%.
Shares of the pharmaceutical company have depreciated by 3.29% over the course of the past month, underperforming the Medical sector’s loss of 2.45% and the S&P 500’s loss of 2.79%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Merck in its upcoming release. The company plans to announce its earnings on April 24, 2025. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.16, up 4.35% from the prior-year quarter. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $15.75 billion, indicating a 0.16% decline compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
For the full year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $9.01 per share and revenue of $65.19 billion, which would represent changes of +17.78% and +1.6%, respectively, from the prior year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Merck should also be noted by investors. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.
Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, stretching from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a noteworthy track record of outperforming, validated by third-party audits, with stocks rated #1 producing an average annual return of +25% since the year 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.06% lower. Merck currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Digging into valuation, Merck currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 9.72. This indicates a discount in contrast to its industry’s Forward P/E of 14.12.
It is also worth noting that MRK currently has a PEG ratio of 0.76. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company’s projected earnings growth. The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.33 as trading concluded yesterday.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 42, putting it in the top 17% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
To follow MRK in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.
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