Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) reported third-quarter 2026 earnings and revenue above analysts’ expectations on Thursday and increased its full-year profit outlook. Shares of the pharmaceutical company advanced more than 2% in premarket trading following the announcement.
Earnings per share reached $2.49, exceeding the consensus estimate of $2.09. Quarterly revenue totaled $18.1 billion, representing growth of 4% excluding foreign exchange effects and surpassing analysts’ expectations of $17.28 billion.
Keytruda Sales Increase 6% to $8.6 Billion
Merck’s cancer immunotherapy Keytruda generated third-quarter revenue of $8.6 billion, an increase of 6% compared with the previous year.
The total included $830 million in sales from Keytruda Qlex, the company’s newer subcutaneous formulation of the treatment.
Winrevair, Merck’s therapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension, recorded revenue of $694 million, representing a 93% year-over-year increase.
Gardasil and Gardasil 9 vaccine sales rose 14% excluding currency fluctuations to approximately $2 billion.
Meanwhile, the company’s Animal Health division reported revenue of $1.7 billion, an increase of 4%.
Merck Highlights Oncology Pipeline Developments
Merck also discussed developments within its oncology research pipeline, including clinical data presented at the recent European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) meeting.
Chief Executive Officer Robert Davis commented:
“Our science-led strategy is transforming our business. The potentially practice-changing advances in oncology presented at last weekend’s ESMO meeting, including new data for our antibody-drug conjugate sac-TMT and the first Phase 3 validation of a therapeutic cancer vaccine, further clinically de-risk the substantial long-term opportunity of our late-phase pipeline.”
The company highlighted results involving sac-TMT, an investigational antibody-drug conjugate, alongside Phase 3 clinical findings for a therapeutic cancer vaccine.
Full-Year 2026 Earnings Outlook Raised
Merck increased its 2026 earnings per share forecast to a range of $2.77 to $2.82, compared with its previous guidance of $2.66 to $2.76.
The revised range is above analysts’ consensus estimate of $2.65 per share.
The company also narrowed its annual revenue guidance to between $66.8 billion and $67.3 billion.
The midpoint of the revised revenue forecast, $67.05 billion, is broadly consistent with the market consensus of $67.04 billion.
The updated guidance follows third-quarter results that exceeded earnings and revenue expectations, with Keytruda, Winrevair and the company’s vaccine portfolio contributing to reported sales.
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