Merck (MRK) closed at $80.40 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.36% move from the prior day. This change lagged the S&P 500's 0.44% gain on the day. On the other hand, the Dow registered a gain of 0.14%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq increased by 0.7%.
Coming into today, shares of the pharmaceutical company had lost 6.71% in the past month. In that same time, the Medical sector gained 1.25%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.03%.
Market participants will be closely following the financial results of Merck in its upcoming release. The company's upcoming EPS is projected at $2.37, signifying a 50.96% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $17.19 billion, indicating a 3.18% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.
For the annual period, the Zacks Consensus Estimates anticipate earnings of $8.93 per share and a revenue of $64.94 billion, signifying shifts of +16.73% and +1.21%, respectively, from the last year.
Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Merck. These latest adjustments often mirror the shifting dynamics of short-term business patterns. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the business and profitability.
Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, running from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), holds an admirable track record of superior performance, independently audited, with #1 stocks contributing an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Merck is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
With respect to valuation, Merck is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 9.13. This expresses a discount compared to the average Forward P/E of 14.35 of its industry.
We can also see that MRK currently has a PEG ratio of 0.84. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals was holding an average PEG ratio of 1.53 at yesterday's closing price.
The Large Cap Pharmaceuticals industry is part of the Medical sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 85, which puts it in the top 35% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Ensure to harness Zacks.com to stay updated with all these stock-shifting metrics, among others, in the next trading sessions.
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Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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