Merck (MRK) closed the most recent trading day at $110.99, moving +2.2% from the previous trading session. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily gain of 0.01%. Meanwhile, the Dow experienced a rise of 0.55%, and the technology-dominated Nasdaq saw a decrease of 0.44%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the pharmaceutical company had gained 11.25% outpaced the Medical sector's gain of 2.01% and the S&P 500's gain of 0.86%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Merck in its upcoming release. The company is slated to reveal its earnings on February 3, 2026. On that day, Merck is projected to report earnings of $2.08 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 20.93%. Alongside, our most recent consensus estimate is anticipating revenue of $16.18 billion, indicating a 3.56% upward movement from the same quarter last year.
Regarding the entire year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates forecast earnings of $8.98 per share and revenue of $64.81 billion, indicating changes of +17.39% and 0%, respectively, compared to the previous year.
Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Merck. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the business and profitability.
Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 4.96% lower. Merck is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Investors should also note Merck's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 12.97. This denotes a discount relative to the industry average Forward P/E of 15.6.
Meanwhile, MRK's PEG ratio is currently 1.11. 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 1.59 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 168, which puts it in the bottom 32% 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.
Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming 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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